Defense Budget

 Lost in the hullabaloo over the administration's commitment to spend $5 billion over 5 years on managing and modernizing the nuclear stockpile are significant budget increases for nonproliferation activities. The total request for the 2011 fiscal year is $2.7 billion, up nearly a quarter -- or $551 million from the past year. Today, a group of 40 nuclear security experts called on Congress to fund the nonproliferation programs. Read more >>

As part of a record $3.8 trillion budget proposal, the Obama Administration is asking Congress to increase spending on the U.S. nuclear arsenal by more than $7 billion over the next five years. Jay Coghlan, director of the Ploughshares-funded Nuclear Watch of New Mexico, talks with Amy Goodman of Democracy Now about what the proposed funding increases mean for President Obama's pledge to cut the U.S. Read more >>