AMENDMENTS ALREADY DEBATED BUT NOT VOTE UPON
Floor amendment #1: Blumenauer (OR) #308 – COUNCIL FOR A LIVABLE WORLD URGES SUPPORT – Authorizes the Secretary of the Air Force to procure not more than 10 radar upgrades for the Air National Guard F-15C/D aircraft, which is offset by cuts to levels authorized beyond the President’s Budget Request, spread across 9 accounts.
Floor amendment #3: Sanchez, Loretta (CA) #157 – COUNCIL FOR A LIVABLE WORLD URGES SUPPORT – Gives DOD authority to transfer funds to nuclear nonproliferation, not only to weapons activities and naval reactors. Currently, the bill language limits fund transfers to only weapons activities and naval reactors.
Floor amendment #6: Daines (MT), Cramer, Kevin (ND), Lamborn (CO), Lummis (WY) #76 – COUNCIL FOR A LIVABLE WORLD URGES OPPOSE – Strikes subsection (c) of Section 1634 of the bill which terminates in 2021 the requirement that 450 ICBM silos remain in at least warm status.
Comment: This amendment would require the U.S.to maintain 450 ICBM silos in perpetuity, regardless of the future need for or affordability of so many silos. While the Obama administration has determined that 50 of the current 450 Minuteman III silos will remain in a non-deployed – warm – status, this provision would tie the hands of all presidents with respect to force structure. Moreover, the provision as drafted could prevent the Pentagon from conducting necessary testing and maintenance of our ICBM silos. Finally, the expense of maintaining excess silos would draw funds from other Air Force priorities and could require undesired cuts to the other two legs of the triad.
AMENDMENTS YET TO BE DEBATED
Floor amendment #17 – Lamborn (CO) #61 – New START Treaty – COUNCIL FOR A LIVABLE WORLD URGES OPPOSE – Blocks the use of funds for implementing the New START treaty until certification that the Russian Federation is respecting Ukrainian sovereignty and is no longer violating the INF or CFE treaties.
Comment: New START continues to strengthen US security. The limits in the treaty and its verification and monitoring provisions put a cap on Russia’s nuclear forces and provide us with information about these forces that we wouldn’t otherwise have. Steps to block implementation of the treaty could prevent the United States from verifying the size and composition of the Russian nuclear stockpile. The crisis in Ukraine is not a good reason to undermine New START, which makes the world safer. In fact, the treaty is now more valuable than ever. The Republican majority has sought to stymie implementation of New START since it entered into force in 2011.
Floor amendment #24 – Blumenauer (OR) #221 – CBO Nuclear Costs Study – COUNCIL FOR A LIVABLE WORLD URGES SUPPORT – Requires CBO to update, on an annual basis, their report on the projected costs of U.S. nuclear forces.
Comment: This amendment would ensure that Congress is more regularly updated on the costs of U.S. nuclear forces, which will put it in a better position to assess the need for and affordability of U.S. nuclear spending plans.
Floor amendment #28 – Hastings (WA) #126 – Defense Environmental Cleanup – COUNCIL FOR A LIVABLE WORLD URGES SUPPORT – Restores $20 million of the proposed cut to defense environmental cleanup by reducing funding for NNSA weapons activities by $20 million.
Floor amendment #84 – Fortenberry (NE) #317 – Nuclear Nonproliferation – COUNCIL FOR A LIVABLE WORLD URGES SUPPORT – Would require a report as to how the Department of Defense will manage its mission related to nuclear forces, deterrence, nonproliferation and terrorism.
Comment: This amendment would seek to appropriately prioritize the nuclear security and nonproliferation mission within the Department of Defense.
Floor amendment #128 – Gibson (NY) and Garamendi (CA) #38 – AUMF for Syria or Iran – COUNCIL FOR A LIVABLE WORLD URGES SUPPORT – States that nothing in the FY15 NDAA shall be construed as authorizing the use of force against Syria or Iran. (Note: Johnson (GA) submitted an identical amendment #255.)
Floor amendment #129 – Gosar (AZ) #24 – Iran – COUNCIL FOR A LIVABLE WORLD URGES OPPOSE – Declares that “it is the policy of the United States to fully support Israel’s lawful exercise of self-defense, including actions to halt regional aggression.”
Comment: While Israel is, of course, entitled to self-defense, the amendment could be misconstrued as a ‘green light’ to endorse military action against Iran and other countries in the region.
Floor amendment #131 – Roskam (IL) and Walorski (IN) #5 – Iran – COUNCIL FOR A LIVABLE WORLD URGES OPPOSE – Expresses the Sense of Congress calling on the United States to immediately arm Israel with bunker-buster bombs and refueling tankers “to remove any existential threat posed by the Iranian nuclear program.”
Comment: Arming Israel at this time with offensive weapons could be seen as a provocation by other countries in the Middle East, including Iran, and suggest we are arming Israel to attack Iran.
Floor amendment #147 – Polis (CO) and Nadler (NY) #278 – Missile Defense – COUNCIL FOR A LIVABLE WORLD URGES SUPPORT – Updates a Sense of Congress in the HASC bill to say that the Secretary of Defense should not procure additional capability enhancement II exoatmospheric kill vehicles for deployment until after the date on which a successful operationally realistic flight intercept flight test of the kill vehicle has occurred.
Comment: This kill vehicle has never had a successful flight intercept test yet the Pentagon is planning to procure additional kill vehicles for 14 new interceptors for the ground based midcourse defense system in Alaska. The amendment would ensure that the kill vehicle is tested in real world conditions before additional interceptors are purchased.
Floor amendment #149 – Foster (IL) #252 – Missile Defense – COUNCIL FOR A LIVABLE WORLD URGES SUPPORT – Requires the Institute for Defense Analysis (IDA) to study the testing program of the ground based midcourse missile defense (GMD) system. IDA would be required to produce a report on the effectiveness of the testing program and recommendations for how it can be improved.
Comment: The missile defense system now based in Alaska and California has yet to be tested under realistic battlefield conditions, such as under different lighting conditions, against a target with an ICBM range, tumbling warheads, and decoys and countermeasures designed to fool the system. The amendment would ensure that the testing program for the system provides Congress with enough information to accurately judge the system’s capabilities and limits.
Floor amendment #155 – Larsen (WA) #191 – Nuclear Verification and Monitoring – COUNCIL FOR A LIVABLE WORLD URGES SUPPORT – Requires the creation of an interagency plan for verification and monitoring relating to the potential proliferation of nuclear weapons and fissile material.
