NetNews Usenet Archive 1992 #27/NN_1992_27.iso/spool/misc/activism/progress/8610

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From: [e-mail] (Rich Winkel)
Subject: PSR: Year End Legislative Review
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/** psr.bulletins: 53.0 **/
** Topic: Year End Legislative Review **
** Written 12:27 pm  Nov 19, 1992 by psrnatl in cdp:psr.bulletins **

PSR LEGISLATIVE UPDATE: THE YEAR IN REVIEW          November 1992

The 102nd Congress has adjourned for the fall election, leaving us
a mixed bag of defense legislation with which to begin the new
fiscal year.  A victory regarding nuclear testing marks a
significant step along the road to a Comprehensive Test Ban.  The
new testing restrictions, however, stand almost alone as
acknowledgements of the end of the Cold War.

Nuclear Testing Triumph

A nine-month moratorium on nuclear testing, with the promise of an
end to all testing in September 1996, went into effect Friday,
October 2nd, when President Bush signed the FY 1993 Energy and
Water Appropriations bill (leaving a mere $419 million for testing
this fiscal year, down from last year's $514 million).
Reluctantly, and against the advice of Defense and National
Security advisors, the President signed the measure because it
includes another provision for $517 million to go to the
non-military Superconducting Supercollider in Texas, a key
election battleground.  He vowed, however, to urge Congress to
rescind the limitations when it reconvenes in January.  This is
the second time that Congress has forced arms control on the
Executive Branch (the anti-satellite weapons moratorium was the
first).

Strategic Defense Initiative

Star Wars is alive and well. It will cost $3.8 billion this year,
the level arrived at in the Senate bill (the House appropriation
was $4.3 billion).  Of this amount, $300 million will go toward
the much-criticized, space-based interceptor system "Brilliant
Pebbles."  The good news is that Congress abandoned last year's
commitment to set 1996 as the target date for missile defense
deployment in North Dakota, and made deployment contingent on
compliance with the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile treaty.

Number of B-2 Bombers Raised to 20

Congress has approved $4 billion to bring the number of B-2
"stealth" bombers to 20, after defeating an amendment that would
have capped the program at 15 planes.  Congress will vote funds
for B-2 number 16 after the Department of Defense reports on its
stealth capabilities, adaptability to a conventional role, and
total costs.  Remember, though, the Bush Administration originally
asked for 132 of them.

More Trident Missiles

Twenty-one brand new Trident II D-5 Missiles will cost $986
million, the amount approved by the Senate.  The House had
provided $786 million for seventeen of the submarine-launched,
multiple-warhead ballistic missiles.  The D-5 was created to carry
four warheads each, to have greater range, and to be more accurate
than its predecessor, the Trident I C-4 missile.  The Defense
Department supports the D-5 particularly as a replacement for the
canceled MX missile program.

Termination of Mobile Midgetman

The Bush Administration announced in January 1992 the
discontinuation of the Midgetman missile.  Last year, the
Administration had eliminated the mobile version of the Midgetman.


Seawolf

The Defense Appropriations Conference came up with $150 million in
unrequested funds for research and development on the Seawolf
submarine.

Anti-Satellite

The Conference gave the Army $25 million and the Air Force $22
million for anti-satellite research and development, funds which
the House had denied.  The ban on testing the MIRACL laser against
objects in space was extended for a third year.

Defense Conversion

An increase in the House ($1 billion) and Senate ($1.2 billion)
appropriation figures resulted in $1.7 billion being allocated for
a new defense conversion program to assist individuals, the
defense industry and communities in the transition to lower
military spending.

Ex-Soviet Demilitarization

Demilitarization and denuclearization activities in the former
Soviet Union received the Senate-approved amount of $800 million
over fiscal years 1992 and 1993 (the House version had provided
$650 million).  The U.S. has agreed to provide Russia with fissile
material containers, armored blankets, and accident response
equipment to aid in warhead dismantlement.  The two countries are
negotiating in several other areas.

Elimination of short-range nukes from Europe

The U.S. government notified NATO allies in July that all
land-based nuclear artillery shells, Lance short-range nuclear
missiles and naval nuclear depth bombs, have been removed from
Europe.

Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty Ratified

On Thursday, October 1st, the Senate approved the START agreement
by a 93-6 vote, codifying the accord signed in July 1991 by
Presidents Bush and Gorbachev.  Under the terms of the treaty,
Russia and the U.S. must reduce their arsenals to 6,000 warheads
apiece.  Belarus, Kazakhstan, and Ukraine, the other three former
Soviet republics with nuclear weapons on their soil, signed a
protocol to START in May, agreeing to turn all of their strategic
weapons over to Russia and to sign the Non-Proliferation Treaty as
non-nuclear nations.  START does not go into effect yet, because
the other signatories haven't yet ratified it.  Once that happens,
it will hopefully function as a prelude to a START II treaty, to
be formulated sometime next year from the Bush-Yeltsin talks of
1992.

New Production Reactor

Citing budget shortfalls and tritium surpluses due to the upcoming
retirement of thousands of nuclear weapons, the Dept. of Energy in
September abandoned its plan for a new tritium production reactor
(NPR) in favor of a "multi-purpose" NPR that could produce tritium
and electricity, and burn plutonium from retired nuclear weapons.
The DOE will now have $184 million with which to explore this
possibility.  Tritium is a radioactive gas used in most nuclear
weapons to boost their explosive yield.  PSR has called for the
cancellation of the NPR since its inception.

Fissile Materials

Congress conferred $10 million in October toward a measure which
calls on the Administration to negotiate a worldwide end to
production of weapons-grade plutonium and highly enriched uranium.
An estimated $1.84 billion was spent on nuclear materials
production in 1992, down from the 1991 figure of $2.28 billion.
The Administration puts the figure for fiscal year 1993 at $1.78
billion.  The Bush Administration had, in July, announced a ban on
production of plutonium and highly enriched uranium. The ban,
however, merely codifies current U.S. practice: the United States
has not produced plutonium since severe environmental and safety
problems forced the shutdown of the Savannah River production site
in 1988, and weapons-grade uranium was last produced in 1964.

Nuclear Non-Proliferation

The announcement of the end of fissionable materials production
was part of a broader proposal which analysts both in and out of
the government are calling the "non-proliferation non-initiative."
The initiative reiterated U.S. commitments to several global
non-proliferation objectives, and expressed support for current
efforts to strengthen the Biological Weapons Convention and the
Missile Technology Control Regime.  Non-proliferation activities
by the Departments of Energy and Defense received $168 million, $2
million more than the President's original request.  A Senate
provision (the Glenn Amendment) attached to the Foreign Affairs
Bill would have imposed sanctions on persons or companies
promoting nuclear proliferation through the transfer of sensitive
goods or technology, but it was deleted in the final version of
the bill.

Lead Poisoning Prevention

In the waning hours before adjournment, the 102nd Congress adopted
the conference package on the 1992 Housing Bill.  This includes
"Title X" with comprehensive provisions aimed at reducing
lead-based paint hazards in housing.  The legislation requires
action by HUD for lead-based paint hazard risk assesments,
inspections, interim controls, and permanent abatement of hazards
across all federally-assisted housing.  The bill also increased
the authorization for the HUD competitive grants program to $250
million for FY 94 to help state and local governments evaluate and
reduce lead-based paint hazards in low-income private housing and
in Section 8 with tenant-based subsidies. President Bush signed
the bill into law October 28.

Overall Funding

Total defense spending for fiscal year 1993 will amount to $274.5
billion.  This represents a compromise between the
Administration's request for $281 billion (down from last year's
$291 billion), and the House and Senate figures of $273.1 billion
and $270.9 billion, respectively.
** End of text from cdp:psr.bulletins **