On the recordSeptember 22, 2021
I stand in strong opposition to this amendment and the extreme damage it would do to our national security. This amendment is misguided based on the rapid changes in the global threat environment. It is well-established that Russia has modernized its entire nuclear arsenal. Meanwhile, we are still debating it, and we have a 50-year-old ICBM. Even more concerning is that we have recently learned that China has embarked on a crash nuclear buildup program, the pace of which has stunned observers around the world. Open-source reporting has recently confirmed three new Chinese ICBM fields with over 100 silos each. When armed, these silos, along with China's road-mobile ICBMs model, will match our ICBM inventory, and they will be new. China is now on pace to quadruple its nuclear stockpile as it sprints to achieve parity with the United States and Russia. For the first time in our history, the United States confronts not one but two peer nuclear-armed competitors who do not share our values. Make no mistake, our friends and allies are watching this vote. Further delaying modernizing our land-based leg of the triad while China and Russia modernize theirs will have the disastrous effect of encouraging allies to develop their own nuclear capabilities or, worse, submit to coercion from China and Russia. Mr. Speaker, I ask my colleagues to oppose this amendment.
