Dear Senator Domenici, 

Thank you for your courageous leadership in zeroing out construction funding for the National Ignition Facility in FY 2006 Senate appropriations. We share your regret that your cut did not survive House/Senate budget negotiations, but hope that you will again try to cut NIF construction funding for FY 2007. 
We request that you seriously examine the prudence of funding the Chemistry and Metallurgy Research Building Replacement (CMRR) Project at the Los Alamos National Laboratory.  I believe that the proposal for this 400,000-plus square foot facility, which will inevitably cost more than $1 billion, is premature. As you know, Congress is beginning to debate the future size and composition of the nuclear weapons complex. I believe that the debate will show that the CMRR, as planned, is unneeded and redundant. This is especially true given the DOE’s recently announced plans to consolidate plutonium operations at a single site, while stating that LANL would be de-inventoried of large amounts of plutonium by 2022.  Therefore, I respectfully request that you do all that you can to ensure that construction funding for the CMRR (Project 04-D-125) is zeroed out in FY 2007 appropriations, since it would be a waste of taxpayers’ monies to proceed with the project. 

Sincerely:                                          		 		Date:

(Printed name and address in return address space)

Dear Representative Hobson, 

Thank you for your excellent judgment in working to end the questionable use of taxpayers’ monies for excessive and extreme nuclear proposals. As you are well aware, the United States is at a crossroads with respect to its nuclear weapons future. Your past courageous leadership in cutting or eliminating funding for Life Extension Programs, the Robust Nuclear Earth Penetrator, Modern Pit Facility, and Enhanced Test Readiness represents an important shift in the debate on U.S. nuclear weapons policy. Central to that debate are future nuclear weapons facilities. 
One current example is the Chemistry and Metallurgy Research Building Replacement (CMRR) Project; an advanced plutonium lab at the Los Alamos National Laboratory that will directly support increased plutonium pit production. I applaud the House Appropriations Committee’s deletion of construction funding for the CMRR in FY 2006.  The proposal for this 400,000 square foot facility, which will inevitably cost more than $1 billion, is premature. Thanks to your leadership, Congress is beginning to debate the future size and composition of the nuclear weapons complex. I believe that the debate will show that the CMRR, as planned, is unneeded and redundant, especially in light of recently announced plans to consolidate all large amounts of plutonium to a yet-to-be-determined single site.  I respectfully request that you do all that you can to ensure that construction funding for the CMRR (Project 04-D-125) is zeroed out in FY 2007 appropriations. 

Sincerely:                                          		 		Date:

(Printed name and address in return address space)