The Democratic chairman of the House Armed Services Committee admitted Monday that liberals bent on curtailing nuclear modernization will fall short, signaling that America’s $13 billion effort to upgrade its 50-year-old nuclear intercontinental ballistic missiles will move forward.

“Any effort to change, that is running into very strong political headwinds, which is a very sort of fancy way of saying, ‘We don’t have the votes,’” Washington Democrat Adam Smith told defense reporters on a press call.