Lynn C. Woolsey: “once again I am here to get this body to do something that the National Taxpayers Union, Citizens Against Government…”

“once again I am here to get this body to do something that the National Taxpayers Union, Citizens Against Government Waste, the Council for a Livable World, and Members on both sides of the aisle believe should have been long ago: Stop wasting money on the Trident nuclear missiles. At a time when this Congress is making cuts in education, student aid, and Medicare, I am outraged that we are even talking about investing $3 billion over the next 7 years in this cold war relic, especially when the Navy didn't even request it. Backfitting 4 Trident submarines that now carry C-4 missiles with expensive D-5 missiles would give us a total of 14 subs carrying D-5 missiles; 4 more than the Navy originally planned. My amendment does not do away with D-5 missiles; it simply cancels the backfit, limits the Navy to 10 subs with D-5 missiles, and saves taxpayers $3 billion over 7 years. That is a reasonable request. It is a reasonable request because the D-5 missile was designed to hit targets in the Soviet Union. Well, guess what folks. The Soviet Union no longer exists. If 10 D-5 subs were enough to stop the Soviet threat during the height of the cold war, then 10 D-5 subs are certainly enough to stop today's smaller threat from the former Soviet Union.”