Arms Plants Periled by Senate Inaction, Bush Nominee Says

WASHINGTON —  President Bush’s nominee to head nuclear weapons production said Tuesday that delays in a Senate confirmation vote are undermining national security by prolonging a leadership vacuum in the arms program.

“It is our country that is suffering” as a result of Senate inaction, Victor Stello Jr. told the Armed Services Committee at the close of a five-hour hearing. It was the second time in five weeks that Stello had testified to the panel.

“The defense nuclear facilities are in a state of disarray,” Stello said, alluding to a series of safety and management crises at the weapons production plants that have forced many of the key facilities to close in recent years.

Bush submitted Stello’s nomination to the Senate on July 24, but the first confirmation hearing was not held until November, when Energy Secretary James D. Watkins pleaded with the committee to approve the nomination quickly. The department has been without a confirmed head of weapons production for more than a year.

Sen. J. James Exon (D-Neb.) said the panel probably would meet shortly after Congress reconvenes in January to decide when to vote on recommending confirmation or rejection of the nominee.