House Limits Obama's Nuclear Authority

Fox News reports

WASHINGTON -- Republican lawmakers voted Wednesday to limit President Obama's authority to reduce America's nuclear arsenal and implement a U.S.-Russia arms control treaty overwhelmingly approved by the Senate last December.

Over the objections of the Defense Department and Democrats, the House of Representatives Armed Services Committee approved a series of amendments directly related to Obama's ability to make nuclear weapons reductions. By a 35-26 vote, the Republican-controlled panel approved an amendment that would prohibit money to take nuclear weapons out of operation unless the administration provides a report to Congress on how it plans to modernize the remaining weapons.

The panel also adopted an amendment that says the president may not change the target list or move weapons out of Europe until he reports to Congress.

The votes are mostly symbolic because they are unlikely to pass the Democratic-controlled Senate. House Republicans, who have no constitutional authority to vote on a treaty, said they were ensuring the link between the treaty cuts and Obama's promise to modernize the remaining weapons. They also complained that the treaty did not cover tactical nuclear weapons.

The New START treaty, signed by Obama and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev in April 2010, would limit each country's strategic nuclear warheads to 1,550, down from the current ceiling of 2,200. It also would establish a system for monitoring and verification. U.S. weapons inspections ended in 2009 with the expiration of a 1991 treaty.