Political Quotes

“Mr. Chair, I rise today to bring forward this amendment pausing wasteful, unnecessary expenditures on the development of the W87-1 warhead. We are spending billions, yes, billions with a b, on this modernization program, making this the most expensive program of its type. We have increased funding for this one weapon program for reasons that remain murky and unclear, even as the program remains plagued by planning and operational shortcomings. For those not familiar, this warhead modification program will require building additional nonnuclear and nuclear assemblies to replace the W78 warhead. In what might be a warning as to the wisdom of this program, it was restarted in FY 2019 following a 4\1/2\ year pause in its development. When the program was subjected to scrutiny, there were problems. In fact, both priority recommendations from the GAO, the Government Accountability Office, on this program remain open and unaddressed. In 2020, the GAO found that the NNSA does not require the program to follow best practices and they lack an integrated master schedule sufficient to manage the program. Mr. Chair, both failures remain true today. This integrated schedule is particularly important when we consider the challenge of building new facilities. The W87-1 is the first weapon since the end of the Cold War that requires new or remanufactured nuclear and nonnuclear components, so understanding what facilities can be built at what time should be the most basic of requirements.…”