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Congress Ready to Reduce Support for CTBTO By David Ruppe WASHINGTON — U.S. lawmakers agreed this week to reduce funding for the international organization that would be responsible for implementing a global ban on nuclear testing. Agreeing to a Bush administration request, House and Senate legislators decided to cut U.S. funding this fiscal year for the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty Organization by $8 million, a 36-percent reduction (see GSN, July 21). In its fiscal 2006 budget released in February, the Bush administration proposed paying only $14.35 million of an expected $22 million toward the organization’s $105 million budget for fiscal 2006. The White House has steadfastly opposed the pact signed by President Bill Clinton in 1996, which would ban live nuclear weapons tests. The treaty has not yet entered into force because it requires the ratification of several key nations, including the India, Pakistan and the United States. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice told a congressional committee this year the proposed cut was not motivated by any opposition to the treaty or the organization but rather because of budget difficulties (see GSN, June 27). Senator Joseph Biden (D-Del.) had indicated he would try to obtain more money for the organization and appeared to be initially successful. The Senate in July approved an additional $5 million he had added to the fiscal 2006 Foreign Operations Appropriations Bill. A House-Senate conference committee on the bill yesterday, however, released a report showing the additional money was not approved. “If the administration had asked for the full request, Congress would have funded it. Congress is basically matching the administration on this,” said David Culp, legislative representative for the Friends Committee on National Legislation.
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