Energy and Water Appropriators Eliminate Bunker Buster, Other New Nukes

NEWS FROM ED MARKEY

United States Congress Massachusetts Seventh District

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT: Mark Bayer or Colin McCormick : (202) 225-2836

June 10, 2004

ENERGY AND WATER APPROPRIATORS ELIMINATE BUNKER BUSTER, OTHER NEW NUKES

94 Members of Congress sign Markey letter opposing nuclear bunker buster

WASHINGTON, DC - Representative Edward J. Markey (D-MA), Co-Chair of the Bipartisan Taskforce on
Nonproliferation and a senior member of the Energy and Commerce Committee, today released the
following statement about the House Energy and Water Appropriations Subcommittee's decision to
eliminate all funding for the Robust Nuclear Earth Penetrator (RNEP), the Advanced Concepts Initiative
(ACI), the Modern Pit Facility (MPF) and enhanced nuclear test readiness. The decision followed the release
by Rep. Markey of a letter to the Subcommittee cosigned by 94 Members of Congress calling for the
elimination of RNEP, a.k.a. the nuclear bunker buster.

"I am delighted that Chairman David Hobson and Ranking Member Peter Visclosky have taken this major
step for nuclear sanity," Rep. Markey said. "This vote represents a giant leap forward for the safety of the
U.S. and the world. It sends a clear message that there is strong bipartisan opposition in Congress to the Bush
Administration's pursuit of new, more 'usable' nuclear weapons that threaten to spark a new nuclear arms
race more than a decade after the end of the Cold War."

"The Bush Administration wanted $27.6 million for the nuclear bunker buster as well as $9 million for new
battlefield "mini-nukes", $29.8 million for a factory to build new plutonium pits for nuclear warheads, and
$30 million for enhanced nuclear test readiness. All $96 million for these four programs was cut by the
Subcommittee. Along with Rep. Ellen Tauscher (D-CA) I offered an amendment last month to the Defense
Authorization bill to transfer funding for RNEP and ACI to conventional bunker busters and improved
intelligence. Our amendment was defeated by a vote of 214-204, the closest vote on nuclear weapons issues
in over a decade and a significantly closer vote than the 226-199 vote on the same amendment last year.

"The Subcommittee's decision, the narrow defeat of the Tauscher-Markey amendment, and the letter I and
93 of my colleagues signed urging the elimination of the nuclear bunker buster all add up to a broad,
bipartisan opposition to the Bush Administration's misguided nuclear agenda."

Cosigners of the Markey RNEP letter were: Abercrombie, Ackerman, Allen, Baird, Baldwin, Ballance, Berkley, Berman, Blumenauer, Sherrod Brown, Capps, Capuano, Julia Carson, Christian-Christensen, Conyers, Cooper, Crowley, Jim Davis, Susan Davis, DeFazio, Delahunt, DeLauro, Dicks, Doggett, Ehlers, Engel, Eshoo, Evans, Farr, Frank, Grijalva, Gutierrez, Hinchey, Hoeffel, Holt, Honda, Hoyer, Inslee, Jackson-Lee, Eddie Bernice Johnson, Kildee, Kucinich, Langevin, Larson, Lee, Lewis, Lofgren, Lynch, Maloney, Markey, Matheson, Karen McCarthy, McCollum, McDermott, McGovern, Meehan, Meeks, George Miller, Moore, Nadler, Napolitano, Norton, Oberstar, Owens, Payne, Price, Rothman, Rush, Ryan, Sabo, Loretta Sanchez, Sanders, Schakowsky, Schiff, Shays, Sherman, Slaughter, Adam Smith, Solis, Spratt, Stark, Strickland, Stupak, Tauscher, Mike Thompson, Tierney, Towns, Mark Udall, Tom Udall, Van Hollen, Waters, Watson, Waxman, Woolsey.