The Trump administration asked Congress for roughly $11 billion more in annual spending for the federal agency that oversees nuclear weapon activities.
The White House is asking Congress for a major jump in the nation’s budget for designing, making, maintaining and reconditioning its nuclear arms.
According to a budget justification sent in recent days to Congress, the Trump administration wants the annual spending on the weapon activities of the National Nuclear Security Administration to increase from $19 billion this year to roughly $30 billion in the 2026 fiscal year, a rise of 58 percent.
The document calls the hike “a historic investment” in the nuclear enterprise. Currently, the complex of facilities employs 65,500 people at eight main sites from coast to coast.
The justification document was sent to Congress by the Energy Department, which oversees the semiautonomous nuclear security agency.
The White House request comes as the Trump administration seeks to slash budgets in many other agencies that specialize in scientific research, including NASA, the Department of Health and Human Services, the Environmental Protection Agency and the National Science Foundation.
Critics have accused the administration of cutting back research at the forefront of human knowledge, and the proposed nuclear investment seems likely to intensify those objections.