The House of Representatives is scheduled this week to debate its $49.6 billion energy and water appropriations legislation as part of a larger seven-bill spending “minibus” for fiscal 2021.
The House’s posted floor schedule for the week does not provide the specific schedule for debate on H.R. 7617, the Defense, CJS, Energy and Water, Financial Services and General Government, Homeland Security, Labor–HHS, THUD FY 2021 Appropriations measure.
Legislative business is scheduled to begin at 10 a.m. today. The lower chamber will not be in session Tuesday, in observance of the July 17 death of Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.), who will lie in state at the Capitol.
H.R. 7617 in total encompasses nearly $1.4 trillion in discretionary spending for the budget year beginning Oct. 1.
Within that, $41 billion would be directed to the Department of Energy – the large majority of the energy and water component of the minibus. In a party-line vote, the Democrat-majority House Appropriations Committee advanced the energy bill on July 14.
The legislation would provide $18 billion for DOE’s semiautonomous National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), nearly $1.5 billion more than its current funding but $2 billion below the amount the White House requested for 2021.
The DOE Office of Environmental Management would receive $7.5 billion for its remediation mission at 16 contaminated nuclear sites. The Trump administration in February asked for $6.1 billion.
The Energy Department would separately receive the $27.5 million it sought for an Interim Storage and Nuclear Waste Fund Oversight program. That money primarily is intended to stand up a program to site and develop for temporary centralized storage of radioactive waste now held at dozens of locations around the nation.
The House on Friday passed its first appropriations minibus for the upcoming year, covering the State Department and other agencies.
The Senate has yet to release any 2021 spending bills.
