[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 114 (Wednesday, June 30, 2021)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E719-E720]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




INTRODUCING THE INVESTING IN COMMONSENSE BALLISTIC MISSILES (ICBM) ACT 
                                OF 2021

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. JOHN GARAMENDI

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                        Wednesday, June 30, 2021

  Mr. GARAMENDI. Madam Speaker, the Investing in Commonsense Ballistic 
Missiles (ICBM) Act of 2021 bill will pause the development of the 
Ground Based Strategic Deterrent (GBSD) Intercontinental Ballistic 
Missile program, the planned replacement to the current Minuteman III 
missile, and the associated W87-1 nuclear warhead. Additionally, it 
requires the service life of the currently deployed Minuteman III 
missiles to be extended until 2040--something that is both technically 
feasible and more cost-efficient.
  The world is witnessing a new nuclear arms race, and this one is 
extremely dangerous as tensions rise between the Great Powers. As the 
United States, Russia, and China rush to modernize their nuclear 
arsenals, the trip wire is growing more taut. Observation and 
communication satellites and systems are increasingly vulnerable to 
attacks. All three countries are fielding stealth and hypersonic 
nuclear delivery systems designed to evade detection. The risk of a 
false alarm or a political miscalculation has always haunted the 
nuclear landscape and they do even more today.
  As long as nuclear weapons exist we must have a safe, secure, and 
effective nuclear deterrent. The simultaneous modernization efforts 
across all three legs of the nuclear triad are an unnecessary and 
costly way to achieve our deterrent. The modernization includes the 
Ground Based Strategic Deterrent (GBSD), the B-21 bomber, the Columbia-
class submarine, the Long-Range Standoff (LRSO) air-launched cruise 
missile, the sea launched nuclear cruise missile, and new nuclear 
warheads. The costs are extraordinary: a 2017 Congressional Budget 
Office (CBO) report estimated that the 30-year cost of nuclear weapons 
spending would be $1.2 trillion ($1.7 trillion adjusted for inflation). 
As the Government Accountability Office recently noted, the current 
plan to modernize every part of the arsenal at the same time is a 
recipe for schedule delays and cost overruns.
  The ICBM leg of the Triad deserves special attention. The total price 
tag to procure the GBSD is projected to be at least $95 billion, and 
$264 billion when accounting for total life-cycle costs. A GBSD pause 
will help defray short-term costs for the Air Force and will also defer 
a long-term expenditure. Additionally, the W87-1, the warhead that is 
being designed for the GBSD, will cost at least $12 billion to build--
and is not part of the estimated GBSD procurement cost of $95 billion. 
To build new warhead cores for the W87-1, the National Nuclear Security 
Agency (NNSA) is expanding plutonium pit production, which will cost at 
least another $9 billion through the late 2020s according to the 
Congressional Budget Office.

[[Page E720]]

  We do not need a new ICBM to provide a robust deterrence. The 
existing MMIII can serve until 2040 with one more life extension, which 
is technically feasible. Lieutenant General Richard M. Clark, then-Air 
Force Deputy Chief of Staff for Strategic Deterrence and Nuclear 
Integration, noted in testimony before the Committee on Armed Services 
of the House of Representatives that we have ``one more opportunity'' 
to conduct life extension on the Minuteman III intercontinental 
ballistic missile, indicating the technical feasibility of extending 
the Minuteman III missile.
  Other independent experts have confirmed the feasibility of a MMIII 
life extension. In fact, the Air Force intends to do just that. It will 
upgrade and extend the life of existing MMIII missiles while it is 
replacing others with the GBSD. The swap out plan is an admission that 
the life extension is not only possible but has already been factored 
into the existing plan.
  Maintaining and upgrading the current Minuteman III missile is 
technically possible, and according to a 2017 CBO report, it would cost 
$37 billion less than developing and deploying the GBSD through 2036.
  Budget analysts who watch Pentagon budgets have warned that an 
unaffordable ``bow wave'' would occur as the Pentagon plans to upgrade 
every weapon system at the same time. Former Secretary of the Air Force 
Heather Wilson noted in December 2020, ``the next fiscal year (FY22) 
will see a steep increase in the cost of refurbishing our nuclear 
deterrent, and with a flat budget, the Air Force can't do this without 
crushing its ability to handle all of its other missions.'' The current 
leadership of the military must answer the question, ``What critical 
weapon, defense system, or benefit for the troops and their families 
could be funded with the $37 billion saved by pausing the GBSD Missile 
program?''
  Any discussion of the GBSD and the MMIII must include the question 
``Do we need ICBM's sitting in 400 silos in the upper midwest to have 
an effective deterrent?'' There is a powerful argument that they are 
not necessary. The bomber fleet, together with America's Trident II D5 
Submarine Launched Ballistic Missiles, can deliver several times more 
nuclear bombs to any part of the globe than the 400 silo-based ICBM's. 
Moreover, it is argued that the silo-based ICBM's are inherently 
dangerous because their location is known and they must therefore be 
launched within minutes of notification of a nuclear attack or be lost 
to an incoming missile attack.
  In every ICBM silo lies the existential risk of a false alarm or a 
miscalculation. Both have happened in the past but fortunately the 
errors were discovered in time to save human life on our planet. 
Bombers can be recalled and subs cannot be found as they hide in the 
oceans, thereby providing critical time for a thoughtful and fully 
informed decision before pressing the button.
  The ICBM Act bill will strengthen our national security and save 
billions of tax-payer dollars by:
  Prohibiting the use of funds for the GBSD program and W87-1 warhead 
modification program for fiscal years 2022 through 2031;
  Extending the service life of the Minuteman III missiles until at 
least 2040, and requiring use of nondestructive testing methods and 
technologies similar to those used by the Navy for Trident II D5 SLBMs; 
and
  Transferring back to the Air Force all unobligated funds for the GBSD 
program, and transferring unobligated funds for the W87-1 warhead 
modification program from the National Nuclear Security Administration 
to the Treasury.
  I shall end this with a personal memory of a visit to a United 
Kingdom submarine that was about to deploy with 16 ICBM's and multiple 
nuclear bombs. The captain took great pride in his ship and its role in 
deterrence. As we were leaving the sub I asked him, ``Suppose you are 
ordered to launch your missiles and their nuclear bombs. You follow the 
order and launch your missiles. Then what do you do? Go home? To 
what?'' He did not reply.

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