William M. ``Mac'' Thornberry: “I appreciate the gentleman yielding. Mr. Chairman, my understanding is that, in January of this year, the independent…”

“I appreciate the gentleman yielding. Mr. Chairman, my understanding is that, in January of this year, the independent Office of Cost Estimating and Program Evaluation, which is part of the Department of Energy's NNSA, provided a report and an objective analysis of this program. Everything that they reported was that the program remains on budget as expected for the first production unit by fiscal year 2025. I think what has happened is that they have a greater opportunity, a greater need, to spend more money from 2019 to 2020 than they originally planned. Now, that can occur for several reasons. Number one, a program can start to move a little faster so you can make good use of money. Unfortunately, what sometimes happens is once you start looking into some of these very old warheads, you discover problems that need some resources in order to deal with those problems. Now, we can't really talk on the floor about the specific concerns with any particular warhead today because of classification. But the key point is, the overall funding program has remained consistent and perfectly within the guidelines of what was planned originally. Again, I am afraid that this amendment, like the last one, is delayed by study. We can study things to death, but we have not done what we should to renew the three legs of the triad and the weapons which constitute our nuclear deterrence, and upon which our security depends.…”