Federal agencies including the Energy Department will remain funded at fiscal 2016 levels through at least the first two months of President-elect Donald Trump’s term, Republican congressional leaders decided this week.
“To this end, my Committee will begin working immediately on a Continuing Resolution (CR) at the current rate of funding to extend the operations of our government through March 31, 2017,” House Appropriations Committee Chairman Hal Rogers (R-Ky.) stated in a Thursday press release.
A fiscal 2017 stopgap spending bill signed in late September that froze the DOE budget at 2016 levels is set to expire Dec. 9. Congress has until then to pass the next short-term spending measure, which likewise will preserve spending levels at the level of the budget year that ended on Sept. 30.
Such a bill would keep the Energy Department funded at an annualized level of about $29.5 billion, almost 10 percent less than the 2017 request. DOE’s program for managing the nation’s spent nuclear fuel would be funded at about $1.9 million per month, significantly down from the $6.4 million monthly funding levels approved for the fiscal year that ended in September. The program, known as the Integrated Waste Management System (IWMS), includes the department’s consent-based siting program for nuclear waste storage. The department received $22.5 million for IWMS in fiscal 2016, compared to the $76.3 million request for 2017, which included $39.4 million in new funding for consent-based siting.
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission, regulator for commercial nuclear power plants and civilian nuclear waste, would get roughly $1 billion, or about 2 percent more than the 2017 request.
At a high level, postponing a final fiscal 2017 appropriations bill gives Republicans in Congress the opportunity to negotiate federal spending priorities for the final six months of fiscal 2017 with a Republican administration.
It will also buy the incoming Trump administration some time to work on spending priorities for the 2018 fiscal year. Nominally, the White House must release its budget request for the budget year that begins Oct. 1 by the first Monday in February. In reality, presidents of both parties often blow the deadline as they tinker with their recommendations for what has become about $4 trillion in annual federal spending.
It remains to be seen whether the Energy Department and the rest of the federal government will get a final appropriations bill for fiscal 2017. Congress and the new administration could choose to extend 2016 spending levels through Sept. 30 and focus their energy on a budget for next year that is dominated by Republican priorities and shaped by the Trump White House.
