Political Quotes

“Mr. Chair, I rise today to offer a critical amendment pausing wasteful, unnecessary spending on the Savannah River Plutonium Processing Facility. I offer 12 different, brief reasons why I offer this amendment. The first is that it is unnecessary for deterrence. While we recognize the need to preserve a safe, secure, and effective nuclear deterrent, the current modernization plans are not required to maintain a capable deterrent against a nuclear attack on the United States or its allies for the foreseeable future. The premise of modernizing the Savannah River Plutonium Processing Facility is to meet a requirement to produce 80 pits per year, a number not grounded in need. America already has more than 4,000 plutonium pits, and we lack scientific data to determine whether or when they need to be replaced without additional plutonium aging studies. The estimated cost of the Savannah River facility has skyrocketed from $3.6 billion to nearly $25 billion since the start of the project. It will likely continue to increase as the program is not scheduled to be completed until 2035, and according to an August GAO report, could be delayed even further until 2038. Continuing to fund this project without addressing its financial inefficiencies diverts crucial resources from other vital defense and domestic programs. The project faces numerous technical and operational challenges, which have resulted in delays and increased costs.…”