Archive

Budget & Policy

Congressional appropriations, continuing resolutions, and White House directives shaping funding and priorities across DOE, NNSA, and NRC — the policy context behind every program story.

  • Perry to Resign as DOE Secretary, With Nuclear Weapon Programs on Autopilot

    Rick Perry on Thursday announced his resignation as the Donald Trump administration’s first secretary of energy after more than two-and-a-half years on the job. In a published letter to President Donald Trump, Perry said he would resign “later this year” from the Cabinet. Dan Brouillette, the deputy secretary of energy, will then take over as […]

  • Senate Tees Up Potential Vote on Appropriations Bills Covering DOE, Pentagon

    Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) this week filed cloture on the motion to proceed with two appropriations bills for fiscal 2020, opening up the possibility of the Senate voting next week on a minibus bill full of domestic spending, and possibly a second minibus that would fund the Department of Energy. The first package […]

  • Senate Tees Up Potential Vote on Appropriations Bills Next Week

    Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) on Thursday filed cloture on the motion to proceed with two appropriations bills for fiscal 2020, opening up the possibility of the Senate voting next week on first a minibus bill full of domestic spending and then following with a second minibus that includes the Department of Energy. The […]

  • Energy Secretary Perry Confirms Departure by End of Year

    Rick Perry on Thursday announced his resignation as the Donald Trump administration’s first secretary of energy after more than two-and-a-half years on the job. In a published letter to President Donald Trump, Perry said he would resign “later this year” from the Cabinet. Dan Brouillette, the deputy secretary of energy, will then take over as […]

  • Perry to Exit Energy Department Before End of Year

    Rick Perry on Thursday announced his resignation as the Donald Trump administration’s first secretary of energy after more than two-and-a-half years on the job. In a published letter to President Donald Trump, Perry said he would resign “later this year” from the Cabinet. Dan Brouillette, the deputy secretary of energy, will then take over as […]

  • Senate Preps Votes on FY20 Appropriations Bills for Next Week

    Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) on Thursday filed cloture on the motion to proceed with two appropriations bills for fiscal 2020, opening up the possibility of the Senate voting next week on first a minibus bill full of domestic spending and then following with a second minibus that includes the Department of Energy. The […]

  • Senate Appropriations Panel Seeks DOE Data on Livermore Excess Facilities

    The Senate Appropriations Committee wants a report from the U.S. Energy Department on what it will take to decommission excess facilities at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California over the next 10 years. The panel made the request on Sept. 12 in a report accompanying its version of the $49-billion energy and water development […]

  • Top House Appropriator Lowey to Retire at End of Term

    House Appropriations Committee Chair Nita Lowey (D-N.Y.) on Thursday said she would retire from Congress rather than seeking re-election in 2020. “I am honored that my colleagues in Congress elected me as the first Chairwoman of the House Appropriations Committee and will fight vigorously for House Democratic priorities as I negotiate spending bills for fiscal […]

  • Warren Plan Would Revive Corporate Superfund Taxes

    U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), seeking her party’s nomination for president, on Wednesday proposed reinstating corporate taxes to pay for cleanup of Superfund sites contaminated by hazardous wastes. The measure is among a list of proposals in the candidate’s new environmental justice plan. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency lists more than 1,300 Superfund properties on […]

  • Some DOE Advisory Panels Survive Shakeup

    At least some of the advisory committees chartered to provide independent perspective on nuclear matters to the Department of Energy — including one that represents the neighbors of Cold War nuclear-weapon sites — continued to operate beyond a Sept. 30 presidential deadline to cull such groups. President Donald Trump on June 14 ordered federal department heads to […]

  • NNSA Boss Visits With Key House Appropriator

    The head of the U.S. National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) got some face time this week with a key House appropriator, Rep. Marcy Kaptur (D-Ohio), who would play a major part in closed-door 2020 budget negotiations later this year. NNSA Administrator Lisa Gordon-Hagerty visited with Kaptur in the latter’s 9th Congressional District of Ohio. Kaptur […]

  • Business as Usual for Some DOE Advisory Committees After Culling Deadline

    At least some of the advisory committees chartered to provide independent perspective on nuclear matters to the Department of Energy — including one that represents the neighbors of Cold War nuclear-weapon sites — continued to operate beyond a Sept. 30 presidential deadline to cull such groups. President Donald Trump on June 14 ordered federal department heads to […]

  • House’s Top DOE Appropriator Interested in Leading Committee

    Rep. Marcy Kaptur (D-Ohio), the House’s top appropriator for the Department of Energy, is interested in taking over the full Appropriations Committee in 2021 after her colleague, Rep. Nita Lowey (D-N.Y.), retires early that year at the end of the 116th Congress. In a statement posted to Twitter on Thursday, Kaptur, chair of the House […]

  • Senate Appropriations Panel Wants DOE Data on Livermore Excess Facilities

    The Senate Appropriations Committee wants a report from the U.S. Energy Department on what it will take to decommission excess facilities at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California over the next 10 years. The panel made the request on Sept. 12 in a report accompanying its version of the $49-billion energy and water development […]

  • Business as Usual for Some DOE Advisory Committees After Culling Deadline

    At least some of the advisory committees chartered to provide independent perspective on nuclear matters to the Department of Energy — including one that represents the neighbors of Cold War nuclear-weapon sites — continued to operate beyond a Sept. 30 presidential deadline to cull such groups. President Donald Trump on June 14 ordered federal department […]

  • Warren Proposes Reinstating Superfund Site Corporate Taxes

    U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), seeking her party’s nomination for president, on Wednesday proposed reinstating corporate taxes to pay for cleanup of Superfund sites contaminated by hazardous wastes. The measure is among a list of proposals in the candidate’s new environmental justice plan. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency lists more than 1,300 Superfund properties on […]

  • NNSA Boss Visits With Key House Appropriator

    The head of the U.S. National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) got some face time this week with a key House appropriator, Rep. Marcy Kaptur (D-Ohio), who would play a major part in closed-door 2020 budget negotiations later this year. NNSA Administrator Lisa Gordon-Hagerty visited with Kaptur in the latter’s 9th Congressional District of Ohio. Kaptur […]

  • Senate Appropriations Panel Wants DOE Data on Livermore Excess Facilities

    The Senate Appropriations Committee wants a report from the U.S. Energy Department on what it will take to decommission excess facilities at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California over the next 10 years. The panel said on Sept.12, in a report accompanying its version of the energy and water development bill, DOE should submit […]

  • Inspector General: DOE Could Seek Up to $300K Reimbursement from Los Alamos Group

    A regional group that promotes communities around the U.S. Energy Department’s Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) in New Mexico could be forced to reimburse the U.S. government up to $300,000 in federal grant money absent documents showing the funds were not spent on lobbying or other improper expenses. That’s the bottom line of a just-released […]

  • Perry to Quit as Energy Secretary in November, Media Report

    U.S. Energy Secretary Rick Perry plans to resign in a matter of weeks, after nearly three years as the Trump administration’s top manager for civilian nuclear weapons and cleanup operations, media reported Thursday. Politico broke the story, citing three informed sources. The Washington Post confirmed the story, citing four sources familiar with Perry’s plans. Politico […]

  • Pantex Congressman Thornberry, Top House GOP Armed Services Member, to Retire in 2021

    Rep. Mac Thornberry (R-Texas), the ranking member of the House Armed Services Committee, said this week he will retire from Congress after 26 years. Thornberry announced Monday he would not stand for re-election in 2020, but will serve out the remainder of his term, slated to end Jan. 3, 2021. He will leave Congress after reaching […]

  • DNFSB Strategic Plan Due in November

    The Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB) aims to complete a new strategic plan in November, capping a yearlong drive to address the findings of a government-chartered fix-it group that in 2018 offered tips for improving morale at the independent federal nuclear-health-and-safety agency. That is according to a notice from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s (NRC) inspector […]

  • DOE Quiet After Deadline to Cull Advisory Committees

    The deadline came and went Monday for the Department of Energy and other federal agencies to terminate at least one-third of their federal advisory committees, but it was not clear this week whether the agency had complied with the directive. A DOE spokesperson did not reply to multiple requests for a list of committees cut […]

  • NNSA No. 2 Discusses Agency’s ‘Staggering’ Hiring Goals

    The No. 2 official at the U.S. National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) this week briefed members of the Secretary of Energy Advisory Board on the “staggering goal” of swelling the nuclear-weapon steward’s workforce by about 20,000 heads over the next six years. Those hirings, mostly of contractors, would be spread across the NNSA complex, including its […]

  • Inspector General: DOE Could Seek Up to $300K Reimbursement from Los Alamos Group

    A regional group that promotes communities around the U.S. Energy Department’s Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) in New Mexico could be forced to reimburse the U.S. government up to $300,000 in federal grant money absent documents showing the funds were not spent on lobbying or other improper expenses. That’s the bottom line of a just-released […]

  • DNFSB to Roll Out Strategic Plan Soon

    The Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB) aims to complete a new strategic plan in November, capping a yearlong drive to address the findings of a government-chartered fix-it group that in 2018 offered tips for improving morale at the independent federal nuclear-health-and-safety agency. That is according to a notice from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s (NRC) inspector […]

  • Perry Expected to Exit Energy Department Within Weeks

    U.S. Energy Secretary Rick Perry plans to resign in a matter of weeks, after nearly three years as the Trump administration’s top manager for a range of civilian nuclear operations, Politico reported Thursday. Three informed sources said Perry would make an announcement before the end of November, according to the report. Deputy Energy Secretary Dan […]

  • Three Senate Democrats Want DOE to Hold Off on Hanford Contract

    Three Democrats on the Senate Appropriations Committee say the U.S. Energy Department should tap the brakes on issuing a multibillion-dollar contract at the Hanford Site in Washington state, to a vendor being sued by the United States under the False Claims Act. While the lawmakers’ Sept. 27 letter to Energy Secretary Rick Perry is short […]

  • Some DOE Advisory Boards Continue

    The deadline came and went Monday for the Department of Energy and other federal agencies to terminate at least one-third of their federal advisory committees, but it was not clear this week whether the agency had complied with the directive. A DOE spokesperson did not reply to multiple requests for a list of committees cut […]

  • Wrap Up: DOE Quiet After Deadline to Cull Advisory Committees

    The deadline came and went Monday for the Department of Energy and other federal agencies to terminate at least one-third of their federal advisory committees, but it was not clear this week whether the agency had complied with the directive. A DOE spokesperson did not reply to multiple requests for a list of committees cut […]