Budget & Policy

Another opponent of the House Armed Services Committee’s National Nuclear Security Administration reform language has emerged, with the Alliance of Nuclear Worker Advocacy Groups (ANWAG) calling the proposed change in protection standards “not acceptable” in a letter yesterday to senior lawmakers. In the letter to House Armed Services Committee Chairman Rep. Buck McKeon (R-Calif.) and […]

With the House set to take up its version of the Fiscal Year 2013 Defense Authorization Act today, the White House is threatening to veto the bill if it contains provisions that would link implementation of the New START Treaty with efforts to modernize the nation’s nuclear weapons complex. In a Statement of Administration Policy […]

With debate set to begin on the bill today, House Democrats are gearing up to try to roll back some of the NNSA reform provisions in the bill. Reps. George Miller (D-Calif.), Loretta Sanchez (D-Calif.) and Peter Visclosky (D-Ind.) submitted an amendment to the House Rules Committee that would strip out language in the bill […]

Both supporters and opponents of a $150 million federal program for uranium enrichment activities are ramping up efforts to sway other lawmakers as the Defense Authorization Act gets ready to hit the House floor. Rep. Steve Pearce (R-N.M.) is a leading opponent of the Department of Energy research and development program, which is expected fund […]

The Senate Armed Services Committee reported out the nominations of seven Pentagon nominees yesterday, including Jim Miller, the Obama Administration’s pick to be Under Secretary of Defense for Policy, and Kathleen Hicks, the President’s selection to take over as Principal Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Policy. Miller is currently serving as the Pentagon’s top […]

The union that represents federal workers at the Department of Energy and National Nuclear Security Administration is joining a chorus of opposition to NNSA reform provisions in the House version of the Fiscal Year 2013 Defense Authorization Act, suggesting that the elimination of the Department’s Office of Health, Safety and Security from oversight of the […]

Most of the concerns raised by unions about NNSA reform provisions in the House version of the Fiscal Year 2013 Defense Authorization Act have been centered on safety oversight, but the National Council of Security Police weighed in on the legislation late last week over its impact to security oversight. In addition to increasing the […]

The last committee with jurisdiction over the NNSA and EM budgets will mark up legislation this week as the Senate Armed Services Committee and its various subcommittees will put their stamp on the Fiscal Year 2013 Defense Authorization Act starting Wednesday. The markup, which is closed to the public, could run through Friday morning. Also […]

As the Senate Armed Services Committee is set to mark up the fiscal 2013 National Defense Authorization Act starting Wednesday, nine senators from states with cleanup sites are reminding committee leadership of the importance of defense environmental cleanup. The senators are requesting that the authorization bill meet the administration’s request of almost $5.5 billion for […]

The Department of Energy’s top safety official added his voice yesterday to criticism of a legislative proposal that would significantly change how DOE and the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board oversee safety at Department sites. At issue is the House Fiscal Year 2013 Defense Authorization Act, which includes provisions that would shut out DOE’s Office […]

The Government Accountability Office is questioning whether a Department of Energy effort to eliminate nearly half of its safety directives was worth it, suggesting in a report released yesterday that the Department never analyzed how some eliminated directives actually impacted productivity or whether the reform efforts would actually bring about enough efficiencies to offset the […]

GOP lawmakers behind National Nuclear Security Administration reform language in this year’s House version of the Fiscal Year 2013 Defense Authorization Act are chafing at pushback from Department of Energy officials, and a Congressional aide suggested yesterday that if DOE officials continued to oppose the reform efforts, lawmakers would go even further next year. “The […]

The top two lawmakers on the Senate Energy and Water Appropriations Subcommittee aren’t fans of a House plan to move management of two major National Nuclear Security Administration projects, the Chemistry and Metallurgy Research Replacement-Nuclear Facility and the Uranium Processing Facility, to the Pentagon, and they expressed their discontent in a recent letter to Senate […]

The House could take up the Fiscal Year 2013 Energy and Water Appropriations Act before Father’s Day, House Majority Leader Rep. Eric Cantor (R-Va.) said in a memo to GOP lawmakers late Friday. Cantor listed the bill, which provides funding for the National Nuclear Security Administration and the Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management, […]

The Senate firmed up leadership of the Department of Defense’s policy shop late last week, confirming Jim Miller, the Obama Administration’s pick to be Under Secretary of Defense for Policy, and Kathleen Hicks, the President’s selection to take over as Principal Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Policy. The chamber confirmed the nominees as part […]

Given that the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee plans to hold the nomination hearings for Nuclear Regulatory Commission nominees Allison Macfarlane and Kristine Svinicki as early as next week, the House subcommittees on Environment and the Economy and on Energy and Power have postponed their planned NRC oversight hearing. Originally set for May 31, […]

The subject of reforming the National Nuclear Security Administration has been a hotly debated topic on Capitol Hill over the last few months, but the commander of U.S. Strategic Command declined to definitively weigh in on the subject yesterday. Asked during an appearance at the Council on Foreign Relations whether he felt the NNSA needed […]

The House Rules Committee established guidelines for the consideration of three appropriations bills yesterday, setting up the full House to take up the Fiscal Year 2013 Energy and Water Appropriations Act as early as next week. The bill will be considered under an open rule, eliminating limits on the number of amendments that could be […]

Longtime critics of the National Nuclear Security Administration’s Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility are taking to Capitol Hill today in a set of briefings targeting the project under construction at the Savannah River Site. Representatives from the Union of Concerned Scientists, the Project on Government Oversight and the Alliance for Nuclear Accountability plan to discuss […]

Debate in the House on the Fiscal Year 2013 Energy and Water Appropriations Act began late last week, and Republicans fought back an attempt to cut $180.4 million from the NNSA’s weapons account. Rep. Paul Tonko (D-N.Y.) offered an amendment that would have cut the funds from the NNSA’s weapons account and shift it to […]

The Senate Armed Services Committee is expected to file its version of the FY2013 Defense Authorization Act today, publicly releasing details of its markup for the first time. The committee completed its markup of the bill 10 days ago, matching the Administration’s requests for the NNSA’s weapons program and nonproliferation account as well as DOE’s […]

A group of lawmakers were unsuccessful yesterday in efforts to shift funds in the House version of the FY 2013 Energy and Water Appropriations bill from the National Nuclear Security Administration to the Department of Energy’s cleanup program. Rep. Jim Matheson (D-Utah) had proposed an amendment that would have increased funding for non-defense environmental cleanup […]

An amendment striking the $100 million in funding provided in the Fiscal Year 2013 House Energy and Water Appropriations bill for a Department of Energy program supporting uranium enrichment technology passed in the House by voice vote yesterday. However, it is still unclear whether the provision will be adopted—appropriators have requested a recorded vote, which […]

A new study sponsored by the Stimson Center puts the annual tab for maintaining the nation’s nuclear deterrent at as much as $31 billion, more than 50 percent more than the Administration’s own estimate of what it takes to steward the nuclear deterrent. The figure, which represents Fiscal Year 2011 spending, includes $8.2 billion in […]

The White House Office of Science and Technology Policy has tasked the Institute for Defense Analyses’ Science and Technology Policy Institute to study governance of the nation’s federal laboratories, and former Under Secretary of Energy for Science Steve Koonin will head up the review effort, NW&M Monitor has learned. The study is expected to examine […]

Former Sen. Pete Domenici (R-N.M.), who recently served on the Administration’s Blue Ribbon Commission on America’s Nuclear Future, said yesterday he was unhappy with the Department of Energy’s response to the panel’s waste disposal recommendations. “I’m disappointed that the Administration has been slow to act in implementing the BRC’s recommendations. The Commission strongly urged the […]

The top two lawmakers on the House Armed Services Strategic Forces Subcommittees are backing the White House’s decision to have the Institute for Defense Analyses’ Science and Technology Policy Institute study the governance structure of the federal laboratories. The subcommittee requested a recently released National Academy of Sciences study on management of the National Nuclear […]

Two senior NNSA officials that received new assignments as part of the agency’s management reorganization officially reported to their new jobs yesterday. Geoff Beausoleil formally took over yesterday as the Manager of the Sandia Site Office, and Michael Lempke assumed his position as the agency’s Associate Administrator for Infrastructure and Operations, where he will oversee […]

The directors of the nation’s three nuclear weapons laboratories will appear before the Senate Armed Services Strategic Forces Subcommittee next week along with the authors of a National Academy of Sciences report that was critical of the relationship between the labs and the National Nuclear Security Administration. Los Alamos National Laboratory Director Charlie McMillan, Sandia […]

Another vacancy is in the works for the top leadership rungs of the Department of Energy, with acting Chief Financial Officer Owen Barwell submitting his resignation and planning to leave the Department at the end of the month. Barwell, who holds the position of Deputy Chief Financial Officer, has served as acting CFO since Steven […]