The following was sent up to House staffers regarding the upcoming vote on the FY 2016 National Defense Authorization Bill.
Angela Canterbury, Executive Director
John Isaacs, Senior Fellow
Council for a Livable World & Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation
VOTE ALERT
COUNCIL FOR A LIVABLE WORLD
May 14, 2015
Dear Member of Congress:
The House is slated to vote on numerous amendments to the Fiscal Year 2016 National Defense Authorization Bill today and tomorrow.
The bill as reported by the House Armed Services Committee has numerous flaws, perhaps none greater than the use of the Overseas Contingency Operations budget as a slush fund to get around the budget caps enacted by Congress.
We stand with Rep. Adam Smith, Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi, and the White House in opposing this bill because the OCO budget gimmick.
Below find our recommendations on a number of amendments in the order in which they may be brought up on the House floor.
Please be advised that these and other votes will be the basis for producing the Council for a Livable World Legislative Scorecard for 2015.
Aircraft carriers – Floor amendment #2: Polis (D-Colo.) No. 201 reducing from 11 to 10 the statutory requirement for the number of operational carriers that the U.S. Navy must have.[Council for a Livable World supports]
New START – Floor amendment #27 – Lamborn (R-Colo.) No. 312 barring funds to implement the New START nuclear reductions treaty until the Russians leave Ukraine alone, stops cheating on the Intermediate Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty and other conditions. [Council for a Livable World opposes]
Russia – Floor amendment #28 – Turner (R-Ohio) No. 106 limiting U.S. and Russian military-to-military engagement until Russia stops interfering in Ukraine, adheres to the Intermediate Nuclear Forces Treaty and other conditions. [Council for a Livable World opposes]
Paying for submarines – Floor amendment #32 – Blumenauer (D-Ore.) No. 246 requiring funding for new strategic nuclear submarines to come from traditional Navy accounts, not a special Sea-Based Deterrent Fund that is being used because the Navy cannot afford the new subs and transfers money from the special fund back to the Navy accounts. [Council for a Livable World supports]
OCO – Floor amendment #33 – Mulvaney (R-S.C.)-Van Hollen (D-Md.) No. 271 requiring a Government Accountability Office report on how money spent on the OCO has been used in the past. [Council for a Livable World supports]
ICBM’s – Floor amendment #35 – Loomis (R-Wyo.) and others No. 210 prohibiting the reduction of the alert posture of the Intercontinental Ballistic Missile (ICBM) force. [Council for a Livable World opposes]
Nuclear weapons dismantlement – Floor amendment #41 – Nadler (D-N.Y.) No. 272 striking section 3121, which places limits on funding for dismantlement of nuclear weapons. [Council for a Livable World supports]
Pentagon audits – Floor amendment #83 – Burgess (R-Texas)-Schakowsky (D-Ill.)-Lee (D-Calif.) No. 8requiring a report ranking all military departments and Defense Agencies on achieving auditable financial statements. Council for a Livable World supports]
Iran – Floor amendment #101 – Lamborn (R-Colo.) No 291 limiting military-to-military exchanges and contacts with Iran until certain conditions are met. [Council for a Livable World opposes]
Iran – Floor amendment #103 – Ellison (D-Minn.) No. 266 stating that nothing in the act authorizes the use of military force against Iran. [Council for a Livable World supports]
Cruise missiles – Floor amendment #120 – Quigley (D-Ill.)-Blumenauer (D-Ore.)-Polis (D-Colo.) No. 289requiring a Pentagon report on plans, cost and strategy to increase the number of nuclear-armed cruise missiles known as Long Range Standoff Weapons. [Council for a Livable World supports]
Space based missile defense – Floor amendment #122 – Foster (D-Ill.) No. 129 requiring the Director of the Missile Defense Agency to submit to Congress “estimates of the appropriate identifiable costs of each such potential program of record” for a space-based ballistic intercept and defeat layer. [Council for a Livable World supports]
East Coast Missile Defense – Floor amendment #123 – Turner (R-Ill.)-Keating (D-Mass.) amendment [revised] No. 260 requiring the Missile Defense Agency to tell Congress its preferred location of an East Coast missile defense within 30 days of the publishing of the draft environmental impact statement. Council for a Livable World opposes]
New ICBM’s – Floor amendment #124 – Quigley (D-Ill.) No. 288 requiring a Pentagon report on the costs of extending the life of the Intercontinental Ballistic Missile (ICBM) force versus building a new missile. [Council for a Livable World supports]
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