Washington (September 4, 2025) - Senator Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.) today filed eight amendments to the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), including amendments to limit funding for President Trump’s destabilizing “Golden Dome” missile interceptor scheme, the over-budget Sentinel nuclear missile, and the dangerous transfer of weapons-usable plutonium to private industry.

“Golden Dome is a trillion-dollar mistake in the making. It will be much more effective at wasting taxpayer dollars than countering missile attacks. It is a defense contractor’s dream and a taxpayer’s nightmare. Golden Dome is Fool’s Gold,” said Senator Markey. “Before we waste a trillion dollars on an outdated idea that history tells us is a fool’s errand, we owe it to American taxpayers to have a plan, to know how much it will cost, and to know if it will work.”

Senator Markey’s proposed NDAA FY 2026 amendments include:

• An amendment to limit funding for Golden Dome’s space-based interceptors until the Pentagon submits to Congress a detailed deployment plan, a realistic cost estimate, assurances that the program will not ignite a new arms race with Russia and China, and commitments to realistic testing and independent technical review.
• An amendment, based on Senator Markey and Representative Ro Khanna’s (CA-17) Investing in Children Before Missiles (ICBM) Act, that would limit funding for the over-budget and behind-schedule Sentinel intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) until the program is shown to be on-schedule and on-budget and the Pentagon provides a report on the life extension of the Minuteman III missile.
• An amendment to limit funding for the dangerous transfer of weapons-grade plutonium to private industry until the administration submits a report on how it will discourage countries of proliferation concern from using plutonium in civilian fuel, and provides a full accounting of any weapons plutonium parts (“pits”) that will be disassembled or transferred under this policy.
• An amendment, based on Senator Markey and Representative Ted Lieu’s (CA-36) Restricting First Use of Nuclear Weapons Act, that would restrict the use of nuclear weapons by prohibiting the President of the United States from launching a nuclear first strike without a declaration of war from Congress.
• An amendment, based on Senator Markey and former-Representative Earl Blumenauer’s (OR-03) Smarter Approach to Nuclear Expenditures (SANE) Act, that would cut spending on nuclear weapons programs at the Department of Defense and the Department of Energy and generate the federal government tens of billions of dollars in savings over the next decade.
• An amendment, based on Senator Markey and Representative Jim McGovern’s (MA-02) Hastening Arms Limitation Talks (HALT) Act, that would help to realize the ambitions of the nuclear freeze movement by prohibiting nuclear explosives tests and instituting a series of diplomatic steps to reduce nuclear threats.
• An amendment, based on Senator Markey’s Nuclear Meltdown and Fallout Prevention and Preparedness Act, to develop a plan to prevent, prepare for, and mitigate the risk posed by nuclear reactors in war zones—such as the nuclear plant in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine, where Russia has endangered countless civilians and stoked fears of nuclear catastrophe.
• An amendment, based on Senators Markey and Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) and Representatives Lieu and Joaquin Castro (TX-20) Stopping Activities Underpinning Development in Weapons of Mass Destruction (SAUDI WMD) Act, that would enhance oversight and impede Saudi Arabia’s access to sensitive technologies that can be used to acquire and deliver a nuclear weapon.

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