Proposed Law Caps Nuclear Arsenal, Cancels ICBM Program to Save $15 Billion Over Ten Years

The Smarter Approaches to Nuclear Expenditures Act is exactly what it sounds like: a bill trying to pump the brakes on the nation’s nuclear spending before it hits the trillion-dollar mark. This legislation takes aim at the sheer size and cost of the U.S. nuclear arsenal, arguing that the current modernization plans are unaffordable and unnecessary. Starting in fiscal year 2026, the bill imposes hard limits on the number of deployed strategic warheads, capping them at 1,000, and restricts the Air Force to no more than 150 intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs). This isn't just a budget tweak; it's a major policy shift that directly cancels several massive, ongoing defense contracts.

The Billion-Dollar Chop Shop: What’s Getting Cut?

If you think balancing your budget is hard, try balancing one that’s pushing $100 billion a year just for nuclear weapons. This bill is looking for serious savings—potentially over $15 billion in the first decade alone, according to prior analyses. To get there, Section 3 specifically defunds several high-profile modernization programs. For example, the Air Force’s plan to replace its aging ICBMs with the new LGM-35 Sentinel (formerly the Ground-Based Strategic Deterrent) is stopped cold. That’s a huge blow to the defense contractors building that system and the communities where those jobs are located. Similarly, funding is cut for new air-launched cruise missiles and the life extension program for the W80 warhead.

It’s also telling the Navy and Air Force to cool it on new platforms. The bill caps the purchase of the new Columbia-class submarines at eight and limits the new B-21 long-range bombers to 80 through 2030. These caps are based on findings that the current stockpile is massive and costly, a leftover from the Cold War era. For the average taxpayer, this means a potential reduction in the national debt pressure, as Congress is forced to prioritize what we buy and what we maintain.

No More Low-Yield, No More Pit Expansion (For Now)

Beyond hardware, the bill targets specific types of weapons and production facilities. It explicitly prohibits spending money to deploy the W76-2 low-yield nuclear warhead or any other low-yield or nonstrategic nuclear warhead. This is a direct response to recent policy decisions that favored developing smaller, more “usable” nuclear weapons. The bill also blocks the expansion of plutonium pit production at Los Alamos and the Savannah River Site. This halt is conditional, though; the freeze stays in place until the Administrator for Nuclear Security submits a detailed, GAO-compliant plan for 2026 through 2036. If you work in the nuclear energy or weapons complex, this means major facility construction and hiring plans are now on hold, creating significant uncertainty.

The Oversight Hammer: Follow the Money

One of the most important elements for accountability is Section 4, which mandates unprecedented financial transparency. Within 180 days, the Departments of Defense and Energy have to report their detailed plans for implementing all these reductions and, crucially, estimate the expected cost savings. Even more significant, starting in 2026, the President must submit an annual report detailing exactly how much the federal government spent and obligated on every single nuclear weapon and related program—not just for the previous year, but across the entire lifespan of that program. For busy people who want to know where their tax dollars are going, this level of mandated transparency is a big deal, forcing the government to track and report the true lifetime cost of these massive programs. It shifts power back to Congress to ask, “Is this really worth it?” with actual numbers backing up the conversation.