USA Congress rejects move to limit new low-yield nuclear weapon.

It was among several amendments to the House draft of the 2019 National Defense Authorization Act that were voted down Wednesday afternoon. Of the 558 amendments filed for the NDAA debate this week, the House Rules Committee made in order 271 of them and the House voted to adopt 98 of them Tuesday night.

The rejected amendment would have fenced half the 2019 funding for low-yield nuclear warhead development in lieu of an assessment of its impact on strategic stability and options to reduce the risk of miscalculation. Reps. Jim Garamendi, D-Calif., and Earl Blumenauer, D-Ore., sponsored it.

The amendment was defeated 188-226 largely along party lines, with seven Democrats voting “no” with Republicans and five Republicans voting “yes” with Democrats.

The vote came as group of prominent former national security officials sent a letter to lawmakers asking them to deny the administration’s funding request for the W76-2 variant………https://www.defensenews.com/congress/2018/05/23/house-rejects-limit-on-new-nuclear-warhead/