WASHINGTON, D.C. -- U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell announced today that he has co-sponsored an amendment to the Supplemental Appropriations bill that exhorts the Department of Defense to continue to make chemical weapons disposal a top priority in the years to come.

It also calls on the Department to provide Congress with annual updates on the disposal schedule at each chemical demilitarization site, including the Blue Grass Army Depot.

In early April, the Department of Defense notified Congress that it could not meet the 2012 Chemical Weapons Convention deadline to dispose of all the chemical agents stored at the chemical demilitarization sites nationwide.

This amendment exprdsses the strong view of the Senate that the Department should make every effort to dispose of these lethal chemical agents by the 2012 deadline or as soon as possible thereafter.

"I want DOD to know that I am keeping a close eye on its chmical weapons disposal efforts and that they should not use this announcement of missing the treaty deadline to slow work or short change funding for demilitarization," McConnell said.

"My goal is to have the chemical agents at the Blue Grass Army Depot disposed of as safely and efficiently as possible."