The House of Representatives on Wednesday began considering a massive appropriations package that includes its recommended fiscal 2018 budget for the Energy Department, but debate had not concluded at press time for Weapons Complex Morning Briefing.
The “mini-bus” appropriations bill, which also includes funding recommendations for the Defense Department, Legislative Branch, and Military Construction and Veterans Affairs, would give DOE some $30 billion for 2018: about 3 percent lower than the current 2017 appropriation, but 6.5 percent more than the Donald Trump administration’s request.
There were almost a dozen amendments pending on the bill that would affect various DOE nuclear waste and weapons program, including nine Democrat-sponsored amendments that would reshuffle or eliminate funding for the National Nuclear Security Administration’s (NNSA) active nuclear weapons programs, and a Democrat amendment to strip out recommended funding for the proposed Yucca Mountain nuclear waste disposal site in Nye County, Nev.
At deadline, amendments that failed to pass included:
- An amendment from Rep. Mike Quigley (D-Ill.) that would have cut NNSA weapons activities funding by $921 million and added that amount to DOE’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy.
- An amendment from Rep. Jared Polis (D-Colo.) that would have reduced NNSA weapons funding by $352 million while increasing Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy by $986.3 million and decreasing Fossil Energy Research and Development by $634.6 million.
- An amendment from Rep. John Garamendi (D-Calif.) that would have cut the NNSA weapons account’s infrastructure funding by $118 million and added that amount to the defense nuclear nonproliferation account.
- An amendment from Rep. Jacky Rosen (D-Nev.) that would have stripped from the bill some $30 million in funding for DOE to prepare defense nuclear waste for final disposal.
Within the bill the House took up Wednesday, the National Nuclear Security Administration would get about $14 million, which is roughly in line with the White House’s request and a 7.5-percent increase over 2017. DOE’s Office of Environmental Management would get about $6.4 million, which is about 1.75 percent higher than the request but generally even with the 2017 level.
