Source: Defense News
By Joe Gould and Aaron Mehta
Congress could, in the coming days, finalize a nuclear weapons budget that adds $458 million in 2019 over last year, after a conference committee released a compromise funding plan on Monday.
The plan calls for $44.6 billion in Department of Energy appropriations, with $11.1 billion for weapons activities within the National Nuclear Security Administration, a semiautonomous office of the Department of Energy that has oversight for the U.S. nuclear warhead stockpile.
The number includes full funding of life-extension programs for nuclear weapons at $1.92 billion, which supports NNSA’s efforts to sustain and upgrade U.S. nuclear warheads and their supporting infrastructure, in line with the administration’s Nuclear Posture Review.
Still, there are questions whether NNSA’s five major modernization programs will be funded in the future — and the bill orders cost estimates related to several capabilities.
Read more at: https://www.defensenews.com/congress/2018/09/11/nuclear-weapons-budget-gets-boost-in-us-spending-bill/