[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 100 (Thursday, July 23, 1998)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1395]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]






        INTRODUCTION OF NUCLEAR WEAPONS CUSTODIANSHIP RESOLUTION

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                         HON. EDWARD J. MARKEY

                            of massachusetts

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, July 23, 1998

  Mr. MARKEY. Mr. Speaker, today I am introducing a resolution to 
express the Sense of Congress regarding the proper direction of U.S. 
efforts to maintain the safety and reliability of the nuclear weapons 
stockpile in the post-Cold War era.
  Currently, the Department of Energy's Stockpile Stewardship squanders 
billions of dollars on facilities to research and design new warheads, 
and continue nuclear weapons development as if the Cold War had never 
ended. In doing so, it bolsters nuclear weapons aspirations of other 
nations who follow our lead, and puts our real security at risk. It is 
time to stop this wasteful approach and develop a custodianship program 
more adequately suited to modern needs. The resolution I am introducing 
today urges DOE to crease its ill-advised stockpile stewardship program 
and develop a program that is less costly, less provocative, and less 
likely to spend billions on facilities with little relevance to the 
safety of the arsenal.
  Many experts have suggested that there are alternatives to the 
Department of Energy's current stockpile stewardship program that can 
maintain the U.S. nuclear arsenal at a significantly lower cost. None 
of these alternatives have been seriously considered by DOE. In 
reality, many of the projects funded under this program are nothing 
more than a jobs program for nuclear scientists, but a jobs program 
with serious non-proliferation consequences. Other nations already look 
to our massive investment into nuclear weapons research and use it to 
justify their expanding nuclear programs.
  To promote the kind of curatorship of the arsenal that is really 
needed with the end of the Cold War, I am today introducing a 
resolution which expresses support for a program that protects our 
national security without being a guise for new weapons programs that 
will further undermine the already unsteady international nuclear non-
proliferation regime. This resolution expresses the Sense of Congress 
that the nuclear weapons stockpile can be maintained with a program 
that is far smaller, less expensive, and which does not require the 
facilities or experiments that are likely to be used for warhead design 
or development. In addition, the resolution urges the Secretary of 
Energy to direct the Department of Energy program for custodianship of 
the nuclear weapons arsenal towards less costly and less provocative 
methods and to cease the current stockpile stewardship plans of the 
Departments.
  It is my hope that this resolution will serve as a useful vehicle for 
educating the Congress and the public about the nature of the current 
stockpile stewardship program and promoting a more informed debate and 
consideration of less destabilizing and costly alternatives. I urge my 
colleagues to join in cosponsoring this important resolution.

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