An amendment that would reduce how much time it would take to conduct a nuclear test "if necessary" has been advanced through the Senate Armed Services Committee and could make at least $10 million available to carry out projects aimed at making the process quicker.
Committee members approved the amendment, presented by Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., by a 14-13 party-line vote when the committee marked up the National Defense Authorization Act last week, reports The Hill.
The committee at that time announced it approved the NDAA but didn't release a full text and committee report, including amendments at that time. A committee spokesperson said the bill's text should be available "soon."
The Trump administration is reported to have raised the possibility of resuming nuclear testing in order to secure a trilateral nuclear agreement with China and Russia.
Last month, The Washington Post reported that the idea of conducting the tests, which would be the first in decades, was raised by senior officials on May 15. One source told the Post that the discussion over testing was an "ongoing conversation," but another said that a decision had been reached to avoid a resumption of testing.
The last time the United States conducted an explosive nuclear test was in 1992, when it checked the reliability of weapons with subcritical tests producing no nuclear yield, as well as conducting computer simulations and other tests.
North Korea has been the only country known to have conducted an actual nuclear test this century, but the Trump administration has accused Russia and China of conducting very low-yield tests.
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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