The full House Appropriations Committee voted 28-21 yesterday to approve the Fiscal Year 2014 Energy and Water Appropriations Act, which provides funding for the Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management and the National Nuclear Security Administration. During yesterday’s markup, only one amendment was proposed tied to DOE’s cleanup efforts—a measure put forth by Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler (R-Wash.) that would increase the funding provided in the bill for cleanup activities at Hanford by $60 million, $45 million of which would go to work at the site’s Central Plateau and $15 million to the Hanford Waste Treatment Plant. Herrera Beutler subsequently withdrew her amendment from consideration, though, after Energy and Water Appropriations Subcommittee Chairman Rodney Frelinghuysen (R-N.J.) agreed to work with her to resolve concerns over progress at Hanford. “You did get the largest amount [of any DOE cleanup site] in our bill, and we want to make sure these issues are addressed,” Frelinghuysen told Herrera Beutler, adding, “There’s a huge issue there. There’s been some problems on the ground. They will be addressed, I’m sure, and need to be addressed.” There were no amendments offered related to NNSA funding and programs.
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