Key Amendments To Fiscal Year 2016 National Defense Authorization Bill in the House

Note: This list of amendments has been submitted to the House Rules Committee. It will not be clear which amendments will be approved by the House leadership through the Rules Committee for House floor consideration until late Wednesday, May 13.

NUCLEAR WEAPONS AMENDMENTS

Polis (D-Colo.) amendment No. 248 reducing that amount authorized for the National Nuclear Security Administration’s Weapons Account to the amount in the Administration’s budget request, a reduction of $237.7 million. [Council for a Livable World supports]

Quigley (D-Ill.) amendment No. 287 requiring a Congressional Budget Office report on the 30-year cost of building and maintaining the U.S. nuclear arsenal. [Council for a Livable World supports]

Quigley (D-Ill.) amendment 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]

Quigley (D-Ill.) amendment No. 289 requiring 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]

Blumenauer (D-Ore.) amendment 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. [Council for a Livable World supports]

Garamendi (D-Calif.) amendment No. 38 requiring an Administration report on a nuclear dyad or monad compared to the present nuclear triad (submarines, bombers, ICBMs). [Council for a Livable World supports]

Garamendi (D-Calif.) amendment No.39 requiring an Administration report on the requirements and rationale associated with pursuing a plutonium strategy that achieves a pit production capacity of 50-80 pits per year. [Council for a Livable World supports]

Nadler (D-N.Y.) amendment No. 272 striking section 3121, which places limits on funding for dismantlement of nuclear weapons. [Council for a Livable World supports]

Sanchez (D-Calif.) amendment No 118 requiring a General Accountability Office report on how the committee-approved provision barring spending $50 million on dismantlement of nuclear weapons will impact U.S. dismantlement plans. [Council for a Livable World supports]

Lamborn (R-Colo.) amendment 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]

Loomis (R-Wyo.) and others amendment No. 210 prohibiting the reduction of the alert posture of the Intercontinental Ballistic Missile (ICBM) force. [Council for a Livable World opposes]

NON-PROLIFERATION AMENDMENTS

Fortenberry (R-Neb.) amendment No. 138 striking a prohibition in the bill on spending money on fixed portal monitors for detecting nuclear weapons-grade and radiological material at major border crossings and ports in foreign countries. [Council for a Livable World supports]

Fortenberry (R-Neb.) amendment No. 251 permitting money slated for the Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication facility (MOX) and urging the Secretary of Energy to consider affordable options for addressing excess plutonium. [Council for a Livable World supports]

Cooper (D-Tenn.) amendment No. 162 striking section 3120, restricting spending on certain nuclear nonproliferation or arms control verification technologies beyond what is required for New START. [Council for a Livable World supports]

MISSILE DEFENSE AMENDMENTS

Foster (D-Ill.)-Nadler (D-N.Y.) amendment No. 128 requiring the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff to certify that there is a military or operational requirement for the East Coast Missile Defense Site and the Pentagon submits a report required last year on the system before funds may be spent on such a site. [Council for a Livable World supports]

Foster (D-Ill.)-Nadler (D-N.Y.) amendment No. 130 requiring the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff to certify there is a military or operational requirement for the East Coast Missile Defense Site. [Council for a Livable World supports]

Foster (D-Ill.) amendment No. 129 requiring the Director of the Missile Defense Agency to submit to Congress a cost analysis of a space-based ballistic intercept and defeat layer. [Council for a Livable World supports]

Turner (R-Ill.)-Keating (D-Mass.) amendment No. 260 requiring the Missile Defense Agency to tell Congress its preferred location of an East Coast missile defense.

MILITARY SPENDING, OCO AND CONVENTIONAL WEAPONS-RELATED AMENDMENTS

Polis (D-Colo.) amendment 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]

Sanford (R-S.C.) amendment No. 122 requiring expenditures for the Overseas Contingency Operations (OCO) to be war related rather to be used as a loosely defined slush fund.

Mulvaney (R-S.C.)-Van Hollen amendment No. 271 requiring a General Accountability Office report on how money spent on the OCO has been used in the past. [Council for a Livable World supports]

Moulton (D-Mass.) amendment No. 63 retaining 119 A-10s in service while permitting retirement of other A-10’s.

Calvert (R-Calif.) amendment No. 331 requiring a cut in the Pentagon civilian work force by 15% by 2022.

AFGHANISTAN AND AUTHORIZATION OF THE USE OF MILITARY FORCE (AUMF) AMENDMENTS

Sanford (R-S.C) amendment No.121 inserting the President’s Authorization of the use of Military Force (AUMF) against ISIL into the bill, with a three year time limit and repeal of the 2002 AUMF.

Schiff (D-Calif.) amendment No. 230 providing an AUMF against ISIL, but restricting the use of ground forces while sunsetting the authority after three years and terminating the 2001 and 2002 AUMF’s. [Council for a Livable World supports]

McGovern (D-Mass.)-Jones (R-N.C.) amendment No.22 requiring the President to determine and inform Congress by March 31, 2016, for what purpose and for how long U.S. troops will remain in Afghanistan; and for Congress to vote on that determination 30 days afterwards. [Council for a Livable World supports]

Lee (D-Calif.) amendments No. 199 and 200 repealing the 2002 and 2001 Authorizations for Use of Military Force (AUMF) respectively. [Council for a Livable World supports]

Welch (D-Vt.) amendment No. 137 eliminating the Commander’s Emergency Response Program (CERP) in Afghanistan.

GUANTANAMO BAY PRISON, BRAC AND OTHER ISSUES

Smith (D-Wash.)-Nadler (D-N.Y.) amendment No.189 providing a framework for the closure of the Guantanamo Bay prison by 2017.

Walorski (R-Ind.) amendment No. 79 continuing the Guantanamo Bay prison in operation while changing various provisions related to the detainees.

Perry (R-Penn.) amendment No. 233 prohibiting the realignment or closure of the Guantanamo Bay prison.

Poe (R-Texas) amendment No. 21 reducing assistance to Pakistan from $1.26 billion to $600 million.

Kelly (R-Penn.) amendment No. 45 prohibiting implementation of the U.N. Arms Trade Treaty unless the treaty is ratified and Congress has approved implementation legislation.

Smith (D-Wash.) amendment No. 62 authorizing a new round of Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) round in 2017.  [Council for a Livable World supports]

Speier (D-Calif.) amendment No. 12 improving whistleblower procedures. [Council for a Livable World supports]

DeFazio (D-Ore.)-Garrett (R-N.J.) amendment No. 124 cutting various Pentagon salaries by 10% if the Pentagon’s financial statements are not ready for audit by September 30, 2017.

Franks (R-Ariz.) amendment No. 18 establishing requirements for any nuclear program deal with Iran. Council for a Livable World opposes]

Ellison (D-Minn.) amendment No. 266 stating that nothing in the act authorizes the use of military force against Iran. [Council for a Livable World supports]

Lamborn (R-Colo.) amendments No. 277 and 278 limiting military-to-military exchanges and contacts with Iran until certain conditions are met. [Council for a Livable World opposes]

Nolan (D-Minn) amendment No. 86 prohibiting funding for the Syria and Iraq Train and Equip programs.

Clawson (R-Fla.) amendment No. 193 cutting the $600 million requested for the Syria and Iraq Train and Equip Fund.

Turner (R-Ohio) amendment 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]

Lamborn (R-Colo.) amendment No. 311 is similar to the Turner No. 106 above. [Council for a Livable World opposes]

Johnson (D-Ga.)-Amash (R-Mich.) amendment No. 223 barring transfer to local law enforcement authorities of a variety of weapons and vehicles. Johnson amendments No. 226 and 227 are related.

Brooks (R-Ala.) and many others amendment No. 7 deleting section 538 in the bill that suggests permitting otherwise qualified undocumented immigrants brought here by their parents through no fault of their own to earn legal status through military service.

Chain Reaction
Council for a Livable World is a Washington, D.C.-based non-profit,
non-partisan advocacy organization dedicated to reducing the danger of
nuclear weapons and increasing national security.

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