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Rep. Ellen Tauscher (D-CA), who has pushed amendments against the nuclear bunker buster, said she was "pleased that the administration has apparently decided to abandon a counterproductive initiative at a time when strong United States leadership is needed to strengthen global norms against the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction."

Sen. Dianne Feinstein had this to say: "The move to research and develop new nuclear weapons is misbegotten and wrong-headed. I believe as more people learn about what the Administration plans that the opposition to the development of these weapons will grow stronger.

"This is a significant victory for those of us who believe that pursuing a nuclear bunker buster will only reopen the nuclear door and encourage the very proliferation we are trying to prevent. As we have long argued it is simply not possible to develop a nuclear bunker buster that can survive a thrust into the earth without spewing massive amounts of radiation into the atmosphere. As the National Academies of Sciences has found, a nuclear buster can kill between several thousand and a million people."

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From Reuters: Click here to read full article. "In a number of votes, Congress has rebuffed the administration on its plans to research a nuclear weapon that the Pentagon argues would be effective against targets buried deep in the earth in fortified bunkers. Critics said researching such weapon would undermine efforts to stem the spread of nuclear arms among other countries, and said it would produce hugely destructive fallout."