Despite Non-Proliferation Pledge, Obama Budget Request Seeks Additional $7B for Nuclear Arsenal

President Obama proposed a record $3.8 trillion dollar budget for 2011 on Monday. The budget would boost war spending while trimming domestic expenditures. As part of the budget proposal, the Obama administration is asking Congress to increase spending on the US nuclear arsenal by more than $7 billion dollars over the next five years. Obama is seeking the extra money despite a pledge to cut the US arsenal and seek a nuclear weapons-free world. The Obama administration argues that the boost in spending is needed to ensure that US warheads remain secure and work as designed as the arsenal shrinks and ages.

Part of the proposal includes large funding increases for a new plutonium production facility in Los Alamos, New Mexico. We go now to New Mexico to speak with Jay Coghlan, Executive Director of Nuclear Watch of New Mexico. He joins us from the State Capitol building in Santa Fe.

Jay Coghlan, Executive Director of Nuclear Watch of New Mexico.

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