Nuclear Weapons Spending Tops Five Major Cities

We see the same story play out in the news almost every day. Costs are rising, revenues are falling and programs and infrastructure that we use all the time are seeing their funding cut. But what’s happening to the things we don’t use and don’t need? The U.S. operates an outsized strategic nuclear force. How much is that costing taxpayers?

A recent report issued by the Stimson Center estimates that the U.S. spends more on its strategic offensive nuclear forces than the combined yearly municipal budgets of Atlanta, Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Seattle. Spending $31,000,000,000 per year on weapon systems designed to fight the long-past Cold War is a waste of taxpayer dollars. These costs are only going to increase as time goes on. Yet, these weapons persist in part because there is big business in nuclear weapons and their related programs and because politics has taken precedent over national interest. Given the choice, the American people are willing to cut spending on these weapons by 27%. It’s time to make that cut and stem the tide of needless expenditure on these useless weapons from a bygone era.