Legislative Update

Senate Armed Services Committee Adopts Lugar Amendments to the Nunn-Lugar Program

On Tuesday, June 5, Senator Lugar praised the Senate Armed Services Committee for increasing by $100 million the spending authority for the Nunn-Lugar Cooperative Threat Reduction program and repealing all required annual certifications for the program. The provisions were included in the National Defense Authorization Bill for Fiscal Year 2008, which is currently being considered by the full Senate.

At the beginning of this year Senator Lugar drafted the amendments that were adopted by the committee. (See "Lugar wants $100 million Nunn-Lugar budget increase" and "Repeal of Nunn-Lugar Restrictions Introduced in the Senate and House.")

"I commend the Armed Services Committee for moving to increase funds to urgently combat bioterrorism. Likewise, the committee continues to support lifting undue restrictions on the program," Senator Lugar said. "Accomplishing these two legislative goals during this session would be an important way to mark the 15th anniversary of the Nunn-Lugar program.

"The proliferation of weapons of mass destruction continues to be the number one national security threat facing the United States. We cannot afford to shortchange threat reduction because of insufficient funding or throwing the program into unnecessary bureaucratic quagmires," Senator Lugar said.

More information is available on the Nunn-Lugar Program page.