Representative Heather Wilson: “this amendment transfers $5 million from administrative accounts in the Department of Energy to two different programs…”

“this amendment transfers $5 million from administrative accounts in the Department of Energy to two different programs in the Defense Nuclear Nonproliferation account. Those two programs do two things: first, accelerate the return of highly enriched uranium from Russian-built reactors abroad and transition those reactors to low-enriched uranium; and, secondly, convert other reactors to low-enriched uranium. All of us here understand the difficulty and the importance of nonproliferation efforts. One of the most successful efforts has been working with the Russians and with others to consolidate highly enriched uranium, because the material is the most difficult thing to get in order to build a nuclear weapon. In the House Committee on Armed Services we had discussions about whether these programs could be accelerated and how fast they could be accelerated. Unfortunately, we did not get answers to those questions before the Defense authorization bill passed this House, and we will have to address it in conference. Since this time, the administration has come forward with numbers and with a global threat initiative focusing, in particular, on consolidation of nuclear material. And the answer is, to accelerate this program significantly, they can do so with a very small amount of money, and that is the $5 million we are proposing to move.”