Agreement to Fund Nuclear Weapons Research Is OKd
WASHINGTON — Congressional negotiators agreed Wednesday to spend millions of dollars -- but less than the amount sought by the Bush administration -- to research a new generation of nuclear weapons and otherwise bolster the nation's capacity to produce and test atomic bombs.
The bill, expected to win final House and Senate approval within days, would give the Bush administration $7.5 million, half of what it requested to study nuclear bombs capable of burrowing deeply into the ground before detonating. The Pentagon conceives of these "bunker-buster" weapons, also called "robust nuclear earth penetrators," as a possible response to enemies who hide and harden key targets underground.
The bill would restrict or trim, but not eliminate, other nuclear weapon initiatives for the 2004 fiscal year, which began Oct. 1. Advocates said the funding would enable scientists to pursue research important to national security without actually committing the U.S. to build or test new bombs. "It's a pretty fair compromise," said Sen. Pete V. Domenici (R-N.M.), whose state is a center of weapons research.
But critics said the bill would allow the president to proceed with a unilateralist nuclear policy that could spur a new global arms race, possibly leading such nations as North Korea, Pakistan and India to expand their atomic weapon programs.
"The message that is sent to the rest of the world is that we need additional nuclear weapons, we need 'designer' nuclear weapons," said Sen. Byron L. Dorgan (D-N.D.). "That is a horrible message."
Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), another critic, said the bill would lead the U.S. government toward "reopening the nuclear door."
The deal on the $27.3-billion energy and water appropriations bill for fiscal 2004 gave lawmakers momentum in their effort to break deadlocks on spending controversies as they sought to adjourn before Thanksgiving. The disputes include an administration proposal to cut overtime pay for some workers, a congressional effort to ease restrictions on travel to Cuba, new Federal Communications Commission rules on media ownership, and funding levels for international AIDS relief, modernized voting equipment and veterans' health benefits.
So far, four of 13 annual appropriations bills have cleared Congress, funding defense, homeland security, the Interior Department and the legislative branch. A final military construction bill is moving through the House and the Senate. The energy and water bill would be the sixth to head toward enactment. Lawmakers are funding the rest of the government through stopgap spending resolutions.
