Garamendi Fights Against Wasteful, Dangerous Nuclear Weapons Spending in National Defense Authorization Act

WASHINGTON, DC—Today, U.S. Representative John Garamendi (D-CA-08), the top Democrat on the House Armed Services Subcommittee on Readiness, offered several amendments in the House Armed Services Committee’s “National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year 2025” (H.R.8070) to curb wasteful and dangerous nuclear weapons spending. While some of Garamendi’s oversight amendments were adopted, actions to curtail wasteful nuclear overspending were blocked by House Armed Services Republicans.

“Since 2014, the U.S. has spent $570 billion in taxpayer dollars on nuclear weapons and is slated to spend an additional $756 billion by 2032. Today, the House Armed Services Committee had the rare opportunity to rein in this wasteful spending, but Republicans refused to provide necessary oversight,” said Garamendi. 

“I offered an amendment that paused funding for a nuclear weapons program that is behind schedule and at least $70 billion over budget. I offered a second amendment that would change the schedule for the production of nuclear warheads to reflect the fact that the National Nuclear Security Administration cannot meet their arbitrary production deadlines. I offered a third amendment that would allow the U.S. to adapt its nuclear deterrence systems to address the rapidly changing nuclear threat environment. Even these rational and commonsense amendments were too much for the military industrial complex and nuclear weapons enterprise,” said Garamendi.

“As we dive into a massive nuclear weapons build-up, the costs continue to spiral out of control. My amendments would have ensured that the Department of Defense paused and considered a more effective path forward for its nuclear weapons programs. While I am disappointed that my nuclear weapons amendments were not included in this year’s NDAA, my work is far from over. I will work tirelessly to ensure that Congress is providing the necessary oversight to keep our country safe and avoid a nuclear arms race between the U.S., Russia, and China,” concluded Garamendi. 

Garamendi offered the following provisions as part of the FY 2025 National Defense Authorization Act, which were blocked by Republicans on the House Armed Services Committee:

• Pausing the Sentinel program during the ongoing review
  • The Sentinel program is 37% over budget, with a current cost projection of $130 billion. Yet DOD officials, and now the House Armed Services Committee, insist that it continue despite being in a critical Nunn-McCurdy breach triggered by extraordinary cost overruns.
  • Garamendi called for a pause on Sentinel program funding until the Nunn-McCurdy review process is complete and the DOD has conducted a fulsome review of the program and alternatives.
  • If the program is re-certified, Garamendi’s amendment would have required that the program incorporate the required changes.

• Correcting the timelines for plutonium pit production
  • The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) has identified that it is not possible to achieve the National Nuclear Security Administration’s (NNSA) statutory timeline to reach 80 plutonium pits for nuclear weapons per year at a cost of $24 billion.
  • Garamendi’s amendment asked that the dates be removed and replaced by “as soon as technically feasible,” which would provide the NNSA time to address cost overruns and GAO-identified shortfalls.

• Removing the minimum of 400 inter-continental ballistic missiles
  • Republicans included language in the NDAA that would not allow for less than 400 missile silos at any given time.  
  • Garamendi’s amendment moved to strike this provision. The U.S. should make these decisions based on real-world analysis, not arbitrary numbers written into this law.

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