Political Quotes

“Mr. Chairman, every year Congress receives a very important and very helpful report regarding our nuclear weapons enterprise. It is sometimes referred to as the 1043 Report because it is mandated by section 1043 of the NDAA for Fiscal Year 2012. It requires the Department of Defense, in cooperation with the Department of Energy, to submit a detailed 10-year plan and budget estimate for our nuclear weapons enterprise, that is, the bombs, the weapons themselves, the command and control, the national lab infrastructure, the delivery systems, et cetera, et cetera. That report is then reviewed by the Government Accountability Office for completeness and accuracy. Finally, the Congressional Budget Office then reviews it and submits an independent report. Terrific, all good, we all agree that it is a good thing. I know that the chairman of the subcommittee wanted that to happen, and indeed we do have it. This amendment simply deals with the reality that this is not a 10- year program. This is a program that will go on for at least the next 25, probably the next 30 years, with extraordinary costs that actually occur beyond the 10-year time horizon. Therefore, it is important that the United States, as we get into this long-term effort to recapitalize our entire nuclear arsenal, that we encounter today and take into account today the most expensive years that will occur beyond the 10- year horizon.…”