The administration of President Joe Biden disclosed the U.S. nuclear stockpile for the first time since 2018, the Donald Trump administration having refused to disclose the information for the past two years.

According to the report provided by the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), the U.S. has 3,750 warheads as of Sept. 2020.

“Increasing the transparency of states’ nuclear stockpiles is important to nonproliferation and disarmament efforts, including commitments under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, and efforts to address all types of nuclear weapons, including deployed and nondeployed, and strategic and non-strategic,” said the NNSA.

The agency added that “this number represents an approximate 88 percent reduction in the stockpile from its maximum (31,255) at the end of fiscal year 1967, and an approximate 83 percent reduction from its level (22,217) when the Berlin Wall fell in late 1989”.

The U.S. stockpile includes both active and inactive waheads.

In 2020, the Trump administration informed the Federation of American Scientists (FAS) that it would not be disclosing the size of the U.S. nuclear stockpile for a second time in a row. The FAS had submitted a request a request for the U.S. government to disclose the size of the U.S. nuclear stockpile.

When the U.S. last disclosed the size of the nuclear stockpile in 2018, the size had been reported as 3,822 warheads in 2017.

Hans Kristensen, director of the Nuclear Information Project at FAS, told The Associated Press that this decision by the Biden administration was a return to “transparency”.

According to Kristensen, disclosing the size of its nuclear arsenal will help U.S. diplomats in negotiating arms control negotiations at next year’s Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty conference.

The remarks came after Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen noted she fully expect the U.S. economy to fall into a recession if Congress had fails to raise the debt limit.

Austin warned Wednesday that a U.S. debt default would have far-reaching consequences for national security, and would even endanger pay and benefits for millions of troops, military retirees, survivors and civilian and contractor employees.

“If the United States defaults, it would undermine the economic strength on which our national security rests,” Austin said in a written statement.

The Pentagon chief’s stark warning is the latest effort — this time from the national security wing of the Joe Biden administration — to highlight the cataclysmic effects that could be unleashed by a potential default amid a stalemate over whether to suspend the federal debt ceiling through late 2022.

A default could occur by Oct. 18, the Treasury Department has warned, if the borrowing limit isn’t raised. Democrats and Republicans are at loggerheads as the default looms, with Senate GOP Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky so far refusing to back off his position of blocking a swift debt limit boost.

If the federal government is unable to borrow money to finance its debt and operations, Austin noted pay and benefits for millions would be at risk and “seriously harm our service members and their families”.

“[A]s Secretary, I would have no authority or ability to ensure that our service members, civilians, or contractors would be paid in full or on time,” Austin continued.

He outlined several potential impacts of a default, including not being able to pay out benefits to 2.4 million military retirees and 400,000 surviving family members.

Payments to contractors could also be delayed, Austin stressed, threatening jobs and operations in the defense industrial base.

Austin also warned of a hit to U.S. prestige that could be brought on by a debt crisis, which he said would undercut the “the international reputation of the United States as a reliable and trustworthy economic and national security partner”.

“Our service members and Department of Defense civilians live up to their commitments,” he added.

“My hope is that, as a nation, we will come together to ensure we meet our obligations to them, without delay or disruption,” he stated.

Legislation to suspend the debt limit through December 2022, after the midterm elections, passed the House in a near-party-line vote last week. All but one Republican opposed the standalone debt limit increase.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer is slated to hold a procedural vote Wednesday afternoon to advance debt ceiling legislation aimed at pressuring Republicans on the issue.

That effort is expected to fall short of the 60 votes needed to move forward, due to Republican opposition. GOP senators so far maintain that they won’t help Democrats increase the borrowing limit while they pursue trillions of dollars in new social spending plans.

McConnell has instead insisted Democrats use reconciliation, a more time-consuming budgetary process that circumvents the Senate’s 60-vote threshold, to move debt limit legislation with only Democratic votes.