Budget & Policy

As the clock counts down on the across-the-board funding cuts known as sequestration, the Department of Energy is warning federal employees of the potential need for furloughs as one of several possible responses DOE is considering. In an undated memo obtained yesterday by WC Monitor, Deputy Energy Secretary Daniel Poneman told employees that the Department […]

Sen. John Hoeven (R-N.D.) offered up a pointed critique of potential reductions to the nation’s nuclear stockpile, suggesting yesterday that the nation’s current nuclear deterrent provides a “bargain” and that it should be maintained even as the government faces significant pressure to reduce spending. “Securing the nation is the most basic function of government and […]

The Senate Armed Services Committee has postponed a vote on Defense Secretary nominee Chuck Hagel as GOP members of the panel sought additional information from the former Nebraska senator. In a letter to Hagel, 25 GOP senators yesterday raised concerns about money Hagel may have received from an array of organizations. The letter asks that […]

House appropriators are preparing to write Fiscal Year 2014 spending bills, with or without a budget request from President Obama. The committee will begin that process this week when the Energy and Water Appropriations Subcommittee holds a budget hearing on the National Nuclear Security Administration’s weapons program. Acting Administrator Neile Miller, Defense Programs chief Don […]

Have the Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management and the National Nuclear Security Administration made enough progress in improving project management to get off the Government Accountability Office’s infamous “high risk” list? The question is set to be answered later this week, when the GAO’s is expected to release the 2013 version of the […]

President Obama is expected to use tonight’s State of the Union address to unveil a new push to reduce the size of the nation’s nuclear stockpile, according to published reports, but a White House spokesman said that Obama’s speech will not include a “new announcement.” The New York Times yesterday said that Obama would not […]

The Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility is facing a funding cut of about 75 percent for Fiscal Year 2014, according to a White House Office of Management and Budget “passback” recently sent to the National Nuclear Security Administration, according to a report yesterday by the Project on Government Oversight. Such a cut would likely slow […]

The Senate Armed Services Committee is expected to vote today on the nomination of Chuck Hagel, but the Obama Administration’s Defense Secretary pick is expected to face a bumpy road to confirmation on the Senate floor. Republicans have voiced concerns about a wide variety of Hagel’s views, including his support of major reductions to the […]

Small Business Administration chief Karen Mills announced yesterday that she will not stay on for a second term. Mills, who has served as SBA Administrator since 2009, said she would remain until a successor is confirmed by the Senate. "Small businesses are now ready to go on the offensive. They are ready to expand to […]

President Obama pledged to pursue another round of nuclear weapons cuts with Russia in his State of the Union address last night, but stopped short of offering up a specific plan for new nuclear reductions as some published reports had anticipated. While the Administration is expected to seek to reduce the size of its deployed […]

Leading up to the House Energy and Water Appropriations Subcommittee hearing this Thursday, one lawmaker on the pointed posed some pointed questions on how cuts from the Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility may be used to fund weapons programs. In a Feb. 8 letter to NNSA Acting Administrator Neile Miller, who is set to testify […]

The nation’s nuclear deterrent won’t be immune to cuts under government-wide spending cuts known as sequestration that are slated to go into effect in March, but Deputy Defense Secretary Ash Carter told a Senate panel yesterday that the Administration would do its best to ease the impact of the cuts. “Nuclear deterrence is pretty important,” […]

The Senate Armed Services Committee cleared the nomination of Defense Secretary nominee Chuck Hagel by a straight party line vote of 14-11 yesterday, but not before Republicans took another chance to weigh in with their concerns about the former Nebraska senator. A vote on Hagel’s nomination by the full Senate is expected by the end […]

Sites across the DOE cleanup complex risk missing regulatory milestones and will face furloughs of thousands of contractor workers if the across-the-board cuts known as sequestration are implemented, according to a report released yesterday by Democrats on the House Appropriations Committee. “Up to 30 compliance milestones across the complex would be delayed which could result […]

Sites across the National Nuclear Security Administration would be hit hard by mandatory budget cuts that are slated to go into effect March 1, with contractors planning furloughs and layoffs to deal with the impact of sequestration. According to a report released by Democrats on the House Appropriations Committee yesterday, sequestration would require Y-12 National […]

Weapons Complex Morning Briefing will not publish the morning of Monday, Feb. 18, because of the Presidents’ Day holiday. Please look for the next edition Tuesday, Feb. 19.

The House Energy and Commerce Committee is planning to take a closer look at the management of the nuclear weapons complex in the wake of the July 28 security breach at the Y-12 National Security Complex. In a Feb. 15 letter to Energy Secretary Steven Chu, committee chairman Fred Upton (R-Mich.) and ranking member Henry […]

The due date passed Friday for an annual report on the Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility from the National Nuclear Security Administration to Congress without any word from the Obama Administration on whether it has been submitted. Under 2002 legislation establishing the MOX project, a report is due every Feb. 15 on the implementation of […]

The Pentagon lacked “visibility” on more than $7.2 billion in funds provided to the Department of Energy starting in Fiscal Year 2010 and didn’t follow procedures to track the spending, according to a recently released Department of Defense Inspector General report. The Feb. 15 report does not suggest that any of the money was misspent, […]

Sen. Mark Udall (D-Colo.) is taking over as the Chairman of the Senate Armed Services Strategic Forces Subcommittee, replacing retired Sen. Ben Nelson (D-Neb.). Like his predecessor, Udall is expected to be a supporter of the National Nuclear Security Administration and the Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management, and the former Colorado House representative […]

President Barack Obama is poised to tap nuclear physicist Ernest Moniz as Secretary of Energy, Reuters reported yesterday, citing an unnamed source who also said air quality expert Gina McCarthy would be nominated to head the Environmental Protection Agency. Current Energy Secretary Steven Chu announced his resignation Feb. 1, and EPA head Lisa Jackson said […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration’s progress in recovering and responding to the July 28 security breach at the Y-12 National Security Complex will be the topic of a House Armed Services Strategic Forces Subcommittee hearing next week. The panel, which held a hearing on the incident in September, will hear testimony from acting NNSA Administrator […]

Two House subcommittees will hold hearings this week on the July 28 security breach at the Y-12 National Security Complex, but the hearings could take different tones. While the House Energy and Commerce Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee has raised concerns about the reliance on contractor assurance systems across the weapons complex, the House Armed Services […]

The White House missed a deadline late last week for a report detailing the specific impacts on various government programs of sequestration, which is set to cut $109 billion from government programs on January 2 if a deal is not reached by Congress. The report was due 30 days after President Obama signed the Sequestration […]

Here’s a look at some of the key events we will be keeping an eye on this week:  The Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works will hold a hearing Sept. 12 on the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s implementation of nuclear safety enhancement recommendations the agency made in light of the Fukushima accident. All five of […]

House appropriators yesterday unveiled their version of a Continuing Resolution that will fund the government for the first six months of Fiscal Year 2013, and the draft stopgap measure includes exceptions that would boost funding for the National Nuclear Security Administration and USEC’s American Centrifuge Plant project. While most federal programs—including the bulk of the […]

House lawmakers finally got their chance to press Department of Energy officials about the July 28 security breach at the Y-12 National Security Complex yesterday, with several strongly asserting that the response to the incident has been inadequate. With lawmakers at a House Energy and Commerce Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee hearing calling the breach “appalling” […]

Efforts by Republicans on the House Armed Services Committee to reform the National Nuclear Security Administration came under fire from lawmakers on both sides of the aisle at a House Energy and Commerce Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee hearing yesterday. Stoked by the July 28 security breach at the Y-12 National Security Complex, lawmakers said the […]

New Mexico environmental regulators are concerned that the Department of Energy won’t have enough funding next year to meet cleanup obligations at the Los Alamos National Laboratory. In a letter sent late last week to members of the state’s Congressional delegation, New Mexico Environment Secretary David Martin said he had been informed by officials with […]

The White House late last week issued a Congressionally required report outlining just how much of an impact the looming funding cuts set to occur in early 2013 known as sequestration will have on federal programs, including those overseen by the National Nuclear Security Administration and the Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management. According […]