House Panel Cuts Nuke Research Funding

[kayell]

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20030715/ap_on_go_co/nuclear_weapons

WASHINGTON - In a surprise break with the Bush administration, the Republican-led House is moving to scale back an administration nuclear weapons development plan that includes research into new "bunker-busting" nuclear warheads.


The Appropriations Committee approved a spending bill Tuesday that excluded $51 million the Energy Department has considered essential for the new nuclear weapons research programs for the fiscal year beginning Oct. 1.


The money had been stripped from the legislation by a subcommittee, and no effort was made Tuesday to restore it as part of a $27.1 billion bill to provide money for the Energy Department and other programs.


Rep. David Hobson (news, bio, voting record), R-Ohio, chairman of the subcommittee that removed the funds, said the spending requests failed to reflect a post-Cold War era where the country's nuclear weapons stockpile was being reduced.

more