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FY98 Congressional Hearings Archives

House of Representatives
1998 Defense Authorization Bill

The House of Representative passed H.R. 1119, the FY98 Defense Authorization Bill, on June 25 with a vote of 304-120. Since 1991opposition to Nunn-Lugar programs has steadily grown. While support for"core" programs has generally remained, i.e. nuclear weapons dismantlement, activities such as defense conversion and nuclear safetyhave encountered increasingly stiff opposition. Proposals to further tieNunn-Lugar funds to the foreign and defsense policies of recipient stateshave also gathered support. Indeed, during floor debates an amendmentprohibiting Cooperative Threat Reduction funds was initially adopted. Onlyafter an unusual procedural move was it subsequently overturned. The factthat the amendment initially passed, however, demonstrates the weakeningsupport for Nunn-Lugar in the House.

In total, $284.7 million was authorized for Cooperative Threat Reductionactivities. This is a $97.5 million reduction from the President's request. CTR cuts included $12.5 million from weapons storage security inRussia and $41 million from the reactor core conversion program. Although$41 million was cut, which was the entire amount requested by thePresident, $10 million was included for the exact same program in aDepartment of Energy account. This $10 million corresponds with the FY97budget level. The House National Security Committee argued that theprogram was not defense related and should not therefore be funded withdefense dollars.

The House also cut $29.6 million from the President's request of $234.6million for the Department of Energy's Initiatives for ProliferationPrevention (IPP). IPP works to reconfigure defense industries in the newlyindependent states towards civilian production. The House NationalSecurity Committee Report, however, expressed the dominant belief in theHouse that they were unconvinced of this and other program's merits "whosegoal is to promote long-term stability within the states of the formerSoviet Union."

H.R. 1119 also reduces authorization for the International Nuclear Safetyprogram by $25 million. The National Security Committee again expressedthat like core conversion, this was not a defense program and did notbelong in the defense account. Their report stressed that in future yearsthey do not intend to fund the program with Department of Energy defenseauthorizations.

A funding cap of $275 million for the Mayak fissile material storagefacility was included in the Bill as well. Representatives noted that theproject was two years behind schedule and transparency agreementsverifying the type and quantity of materials to be stored at the site hadyet to be reached with Russia. Until such agreements were signed, theCommittee Report states, funding should be withheld.On June 23, anamendment from Representatives Gerald Solomon (R-NY) and Dana Rohrabacher(R-CA), prohibiting expenditure of FY98 CTR funds if Russia transferscertain missile technology to China, narrowly passed 215-206.Solomon-Rohrabacher was hotly debated in the House. Supporters argued thatthe U.S. should not be sending aid to Russia if Moscow continues toprovide missiles to China. It was argued that these weapons in the futuremight be used against U.S. Navy personnel. Detractors argued that CTR wasnot foreign aid, but a vital program to national security, that the threatfrom the missile system was exaggerated, and that cutting CTR would hurtthe U.S. more than Russia.

The passage of the Solomon-Rohrabacher amendment was an obvious blow toNunn-Lugar supporters. Two days later, however, before the final vote onH.R. 1119, Representative Ron Dellums (D-CA) instituted an unusualprocedural maneuver requiring a revote on Solomon-Rohrabacher. Over thosetwo days, opponents to the amendment were able to convince severalRepresentatives that it was not in the national interest to withhold CTRmonies. On the revote, the amendment was defeated 204-219 and strippedfrom the Authorization Act.

"Supercomputer" export controls also received significant attention duringthe floor debates. Both members of the House and Senate were concernedthatPresident Clinton's export control policy was not stringent enough. Inresponse, the House passed an amendment requiring written approval fromthe Departments of Commerce, Defense, Energy, State and the Arms Controland Disarmament Agency before computers with capabilities in excess of2,000 million theoretical operations per second (MTOPS) can be exported toTier 3 states. Tier 3 countries include Russia, China, Pakistan, India,Israel, Pakistan, and Saudi Arabia. Sponsored by National SecurityCommittee Chairman Floyd Spense (R-SC) and Rod Dellums, the amendmentpassed easily on June 19, 332-88.

Spense-Dellums further requires the President to submit to Congress areport detailing all U.S. supercomputers capable of 2,000 MTOPS that havebeen exported since June 25, 1996. Reports that Russian and Chineseweapons laboratories had acquired U.S. high-end computers concerned manyin the House. They feared these computers could assist the design,development, and testing of nuclear weapons.

Finally, the House passed an amendment to the Defense Authorization Billchallenging President Clinton's claim that no Russian nuclear missileswere targeted on the United States. Representative Curt Weldon (R-PA) wasupset that President Clinton's often repeated assurance has lulled theAmerican people into a false sense of security. His amendment, whichpassed on June20 on a 290-100 vote, requires the President to certifywhether it is possible to verify that a Russian intercontinental ballisticmissile (ICBM) is or is not target on the United States. The Presidentmust also certify whether he can certify the amount of time it would takeRussia to retarget their missiles and if during an accidental launch,would a Russian ICBM formerly targeted at the U.S. revert to its previoustargeting program.