Smarter Approach to Nuclear Expenditures Act
Latest action. Read twice and referred to the Committee on Armed Services.
Smarter Approach to Nuclear Expenditures Act - Prohibits the obligation or expenditure of funds authorized to be appropriated to the Department of Defense (DOD) for FY2014-FY2023: (1) for the research, development, test, and evaluation (RDT&E) or procurement of a long-range penetrating bomber aircraft; (2) to procure an SSBN-X submarine (and prohibits the use of such funds for FY2024 and thereafter to procure more than eight such submarines); or (3) for the RDT&E or procurement of a new intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM).
Prohibits the obligation or expenditure of funds authorized to be appropriated for FY2014 or thereafter for DOD or the Department of Energy (DOE): (1) to make the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter aircraft capable of carrying nuclear weapons; (2) until the Secretary of Defense and the Secretary of Energy jointly certify that the total cost of the B61 life extension program has been reduced to not more than $5 billion; (3) for the W78 life extension program; (4) for the mixed oxide fuel fabrication facility project; (5) to replace the chemistry and metallurgy research building at Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, New Mexico; or (6) for the uranium processing facility at the Y-12 National Security Complex, Oak Ridge, Tennessee.
Prohibits Navy forces, beginning in FY2020, from including more than eight operational ballistic-missile submarines available for deployment.
Prohibits the use of DOD funds for FY2014 or thereafter: (1) to maintain more than 250 submarine-launched ballistic missiles, or (2) for the medium extended air defense system.
Requires initial and annual reports from the Secretaries of Defense and Energy outlining their respective plans to carry out the requirements of this Act.
Directs the President to submit to Congress an annual report containing a comprehensive accounting by the Director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) of the amounts obligated or expended by the federal government for each nuclear weapon and related nuclear program during the fiscal year covered by the report for the life cycle of such weapon or program.
Written by analysts at the Congressional Research Service and published on Congress.gov, not by Civibrief. Summarized at the "Introduced in Senate" stage on February 27, 2014. It describes the bill, it is not the legal text.
Where is it in the process, and what happens next?
4 steps remain before this bill could become law.
The record's latest action, on February 27, 2014: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Armed Services.
- Clearing the committees it was referred to, and being scheduled for a floor vote
- Passage by the Senate
- Passage by the House
- The President's signature. If the President vetoes it, two-thirds of both chambers must vote to override.
How likely is it to become law?
Civibrief does not forecast outcomes and this page has no opinion about this one. What the record supports is a base rate, which is a fact about the whole pile, not a prediction about this measure.
In the 113th Congress (2013-14), 296 of the 9,091 bills and joint resolutions introduced became law, about 3.3 percent. That count covers every measure at every stage, including the many that never left committee.
This one is not there yet: 4 steps are still outstanding, listed above.
Has anyone actually voted on it?
No. No roll call in this Congress cites this measure. That is the ordinary outcome: most measures never reach a recorded floor vote, and a committee ends most of them simply by not acting.
A vote is not the only thing that happens to a measure. Hearings, markups, and referrals are all recorded actions, and none of them is a vote of the full chamber.
Who is behind it?
Edward Markey (D-MA) introduced it on February 27, 2014, and 2 members have since signed on as cosponsors.
They are 1 Democrat, 1 independent.
Cosponsoring is a formal signature on the text. It is not a commitment to vote for the measure, it does not bind anyone's party, and a long list of cosponsors is a measure of attention rather than of prospects.
How long has it been in play?
It was introduced on February 27, 2014, 4578 days ago. The most recent recorded action was 4578 days ago, on February 27, 2014.
Measures do not carry over. Anything the 113th Congress has not finished by January 3, 2015 dies when the term ends, and has to be introduced again from the start in the next Congress.
Every answer above is assembled from this measure's own record on Congress.gov and from published counts of what Congress has passed before. Civibrief does not predict outcomes and takes no position on any measure.
Vote history
- SenateIn committee, no floor vote yet
- HouseAwaits Senate passage
- PresidentAwaits both chambers