WASHINGTON -- May 23 -- The House of Representatives is scheduled to vote this Wednesday and the Senate will vote soon on funding for Bush’s proposed nuclear “bunker buster” bombs known as the Robust Nuclear Earth Penetrator (RNEP). At the same time in New York City, 250 miles to the north, the Bush administration is accusing other nations, such as Iran, of threatening world security by attempting to acquire similar weapons.

One hundred and sixty nations are in the last week of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) Review Conference at the UN in New York, seeking ways to strengthen the treaty’s non-proliferation and disarmament provisions. Since the conference opened May 2, very little progress has been made, as the U.S. has sought to downplay past disarmament commitments under the treaty and earlier review conferences while focusing criticism on Iran’s nuclear program.

“Much of the world thinks that the U.S. government is, at best, diplomatically tone deaf and, at worst, willfully deaf and literally dumb. Congress can help change this damaging perception by voting to close the door on the development of new, more ‘usable’ nuclear weapons such as the bunker buster,” said Kevin Martin, executive director of Peace Action.

“It’s the height of hypocrisy that the Bush administration continues its quest for new nuclear weapons while pointing fingers at Iran, North Korea or anyone else. If we are to be serious about preventing the spread of the world's worst weapons to these and other countries—as we surely must be—we must lead by example,” continued Martin.

House committees last week cut research funding for RNEP, but left intact funding for altering the B-2 bomber to be able to deliver the warhead. An amendment is expected to delete funding for this purpose as well. A Senate committee did the reverse of the House—it deleted funding for the B-2 modification while leaving $4.5 million for the nuclear bunker buster research. A conference committee will likely have to address the discrepancy this summer.

“In poll after poll, a super majority of Americans say that they want to cut nuclear weapons, not build more. Congress has an opportunity to do something that will improve the security of Americans and at the same time improve U.S. standing in the world when an improvement is badly needed,” concluded Kevin Martin.

Peace Action (the merger of Sane and The Nuclear Freeze), is the United States' largest peace and disarmament organization with 100,000 members nationwide and over 100 chapters in thirty states. http://www.Peace-Action.org

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