Sec. 1240. Limitation on availability of funds to extend the implementation of the New Start Treaty
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Congress finds the following: The New START Treaty provides that, [w]hen a Party believes that a new kind of strategic offensive arm is emerging, that Party shall have the right to raise the question of such a strategic offensive arm for consideration in the Bilateral Consultative Commission . Russian Federation President Vladimir Putin stated in a March 1, 2018, public speech that— I will speak about the newest systems of Russian strategic weapons that we are creating…we have embarked on the development of the next generation of missiles. ;
We started to develop new types of strategic arms that do not use ballistic trajectories at all when moving toward a target. ; One of them is a small-scale heavy-duty nuclear energy unit that can be installed in a missile like our latest X-101 air-launched missile…In late 2017, Russia successfully launched its latest nuclear-powered missile at the central training ground. During its flight, the nuclear-powered engine reached its design capacity and provided the necessary propulsion. ; [i]n December 2017, an innovative nuclear power unit for this unmanned underwater vehicle completed a test cycle that lasted many years….[t]he tests that were conducted enabled us to begin developing a new type of strategic weapon that would carry massive nuclear ordnance ; [b]y the way, we have yet to choose names for these two new strategic weapons, the global range cruise missile and the unmanned underwater vehicle.
We are waiting for suggestions from the Defence Ministry ; A real technological breakthrough is the development of a strategic missile system with fundamentally new combat equipment- a gliding wing unit, which has also been successfully tested…[w]e called it the Avangard ; and I want to specifically emphasise that the newly developed strategic arms - in fact, new types of strategic weapons- are not the result of something left over from the Soviet Union. Of course, we relied on some ideas from our ingenious predecessors.
But everything I have described today is the result of the last several years, the product of dozens of research organisations, design bureaus and institute. . During the House Armed Services Committee hearing on April 12, 2018, Secretary of Defense James Mattis was asked whether Russia should honor the terms of the treaty and limit its new strategic offensive arms under the New START Treaty as it requires and he stated Sir, I believe they should. . None of the funds authorized to be appropriated or otherwise made available for fiscal year 2019 for the Department of Defense may be obligated or expended to extend the implementation of the New START Treaty unless and until the President— certifies to the appropriate congressional committees that— the President has raised the issue of covered Russian systems in the appropriate fora with the Russian Federation under Article V of the New START Treaty or otherwise; and the Russian Federation has responded in writing to the United States as to whether they will agree to declare the covered Russian systems as strategic offensive arms or otherwise pursuant to the New START Treaty; submits a copy of the written response of the Russian Federation described in paragraph (1)(B) to the appropriate congressional committees; and notifies the appropriate congressional committees as to whether the position of the Russian Federation threatens the viability of the New START Treaty or requires appropriate United States political, economic, or military responses.
In this section: The term appropriate congressional committees means— the congressional defense committees; and the Committee on Foreign Relations of the Senate and the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the House of Representatives. The term covered Russian systems means the following: The heavy intercontinental missile system known as Sarmat or otherwise identified. An air-launched nuclear-powered cruise missile known as X-101 or otherwise identified. An unmanned underwater vehicle known as Status 6 or otherwise identified.
The long-distance guided flight hypersonic weapons system known by Avanguard or otherwise identified. The term New START Treaty means the Treaty between the United States of America and the Russian Federation on Measures for the Further Reduction and Limitation of Strategic Offensive Arms, signed at Prague April 8, 2010, and entered into force February 5, 2011.