[Congressional Record Volume 154, Number 17 (Monday, February 4, 2008)]
[Senate]
[Page S563]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       CHEMICAL DEMILITARIZATION

  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, today Congress received the fiscal year 
2009 budget request from President Bush. It is a budget that does not 
raise taxes and provides a framework for eliminating the deficit within 
5 years. Both objectives are consistent with and critical to our long-
term economic goals.
  It is now up to Congress to fully and fairly consider this budget 
proposal and each appropriations bill.
  I do not need to remind our colleagues we are also hard at work to 
pass an economic growth package. While considering the budget, we must 
not undo the economic growth policies contained in that package by 
increasing the size of Government, when we should be increasing the 
size of the economy.
  Turning to one particular item in the budget that is of great 
importance to me and my home State of Kentucky, I wish to speak briefly 
about the budget request for the disposal of chemical weapons at the 
Blue Grass Army Depot in Richmond, KY.
  For years, I have led the fight in Congress to safely and efficiently 
dispose of the deadly chemical weapons at the Blue Grass Army Depot, 
and for years the Department of Defense bureaucracy has dragged its 
feet on this issue and refused to comply with Congress's direction that 
disposal of such weapons be given serious attention and the resources 
to get it done.
  As a result, complete disposal of these deadly weapons has been 
pushed further and further into the future, even though the people of 
Richmond and Madison County, KY, have been living for too long already 
with over 500 tons of chemical weapons in their midst. This includes VX 
nerve agents, one of the deadliest nerve agents ever created.
  You can understand the people of Madison County and, frankly, I have 
had enough. So I am pleased to report that after making my wishes clear 
to Defense Secretary Gates, I have convinced the Department to increase 
the fiscal year 2009 budget request amount to a level that will help 
enable the Blue Grass Army Depot to more safely and quickly dispose of 
these weapons.
  I personally thank Secretary Gates for his involvement in this 
success. I have worked with and been frustrated by Defense Secretaries 
under both Republican and Democratic administrations. But Secretary 
Gates gets it and he took action. I thank him for that, and I know the 
people of Madison County do as well.
  Before we intervened, DOD had initially set fiscal year 2009 funding 
for the Assembled Chemical Weapons Alternatives Program, or ACWA, at 
$351 million. ACWA is the program that will dispose of these chemical 
weapons.
  Now the ACWA budget has been increased to nearly $398 million, thanks 
to Secretary Gates. This is the third consecutive year we have been 
able to persuade DOD to increase the ACWA budget request. By increasing 
the funding level, we can speed up the disposal.
  In addition to adequate funding, legislation I authored and that was 
enacted into law now sets a deadline for DOD to complete work on 
disposal by 2017. That is right, it is now law that disposal must be 
completed in less than 10 years, by 2017.
  This is a two-pronged approach to solving this problem and these two 
prongs complement each other. Together, increased funding for disposal 
and a deadline set into law are moving us closer to the disposal of 
these heinous weapons.
  In short, when it comes to the chemical weapons stored at Blue Grass 
Army Depot, dollars plus a deadline equals disposal. That is the goal: 
the quick and safe disposal of these chemical weapons. The people of 
Kentucky deserve no less.
  I yield the floor.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The majority leader.

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