Fw: Weapons of Mass Destruction: House Acts to Stop Their Spread - FCNL

----- Original Message -----
From: "Joe Volk" <joevolk@fcnl.org>
To: "Miriam Vieni" <miriamvieni@optonline.net>
Sent: Tuesday, May 30, 2006 4:32 PM
Subject: Weapons of Mass Destruction: House Acts to Stop Their Spread - FCNL

For the first time in more then 10 years, members of the House of
Representatives have voted on the House floor to support an arms
control amendment to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons. Last week,
the House voted to expand efforts to stop the spread of weapons of mass
destruction by increasing spending for programs to secure and dispose
of vulnerable nuclear materials that could be used to build nuclear
bombs.

Reps. Robert Andrews (NJ) and Jim Leach (IA) led the successful
bipartisan effort to add $27.8 million to nonproliferation programs on
the House floor May 24. The amendment passed by a vote of 227-195. The
Energy Department's Global Threat Reduction Initiative (GTRI) budget
would receive the added funds as part of the annual energy and water
appropriations bill which provides funds for Energy Department
programs.

The program's mission is "to identify, secure, remove and/or
facilitate the disposition of high-risk, vulnerable nuclear and
radioactive materials around the world" that pose a threat to the
United States. Last year, Congress appropriated only $97 million for
the program. The House now has added $41 million to the Energy
Department's request of $107 million in fiscal year 2007, a total
increase of 52 percent for the program over last year's funding
levels.

Increased funding for GTRI is critical because securing nuclear
materials is proceeding too slowly, in part because of a lack of
funding. Currently, parts of the program are scheduled to be completed
by 2013. This additional funding could accelerate the securing of
highly enriched uranium and other nuclear bomb materials.

A conference committee will still need to reconcile the House energy
and water appropriations bill with the Senate version, scheduled for
debate in June. For GTRI to receive the additional funding provided by
the Andrews-Leach amendment, the conference committee will need to
accept the addition.

Find out how your representative voted on the Anderws-Leach amendment
at:
http://capwiz.com/fconl/issues/votes/?votenum=199&chamber=H&congress=1092.
If your representative voted for the amendment, please thank her or
him.

For additional background, see the article "The Administration Is
Starving Cooperative Threat Reduction Programs" in FCNL's May
newsletter (free registration required).
http://www.fcnl.org/now/now_item.php?item_id=439&issue_id=34

For more information on nuclear disarmament, please visit
http://www.fcnl.org/nuclear/
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