Lawmaker Proposes NNSA ?Business Board,? Elevating NNSA Administrator to Dep. Energy Secretary

Rep. Ben Ray Lujan (D-N.M.) is looking to have the National Nuclear Security Administration establish a “Business Board,” modeled on the Pentagon’s Defense Business Board. Lujan has submitted an amendment establishing the NNSA Business Board to be considered during House floor debate on the Fiscal Year 2016 National Defense Authorization Act. The House Rules Committee is expected tomorrow to approve the list of amendments to be considered for the bill.

As envisioned in Lujan’s amendment, the purpose of the NNSA Business Board would be to “examine and advise on overall Administration management and governance from a private sector perspective.” The Board would consist of 12 members appointed by the NNSA Administrator who would need to have “a proven track record of sound judgement in leading or governing large, complex private sector corporations or organizations” or “a wealth of top-level global business experience” in a variety of areas. In a separate amendment proposed for consideration during House floor debate, Lujan is also pushing for the head of the NNSA to be elevated to a Deputy Secretary of Energy position and to serve for six years. Currently, the NNSA Administrator also serves as an Under Secretary of Energy.

Other proposed amendments to the FY16 defense authorization bill to be considered by the House Rules Committee include:
— An amendment submitted by Rep. Jim Bridenstine (R-Okla.) that would enhance the prohibition on funding defense nuclear nonproliferation activities in Russia by modifying the waiver requirement to require DOE to show that the funds could not be used for facility recapitalization projects;
— An amendment by Rep. Loretta Sanchez (D-Calif.) that would direct the Government Accountability Office to prepare a report examining how the defense authorization bill’s limitation on dismantlement funding would impact NNSA’s plans to dismantle by 2022 all U.S. nuclear weapons retired prior to fiscal year 2009;
— An amendment submitted by Reps. Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.), Ryan Zinke (R-Mont.), Kevin Cramer (R-Neb.) and Adrian Smith (R-Neb.) that would prohibit reducing the alert posture of the U.S. ICBM force;
— An amendment submitted by Reps. Earl Blumenauer (D-Ore.) and Jared Polis (D-Colo.) that would requires funding for the Ohio-class replacement program to come from traditional Navy accounts, and not the Sea-Based Deterrent Fund;
— An amendment submitted by Rep. Jeff Fortenberry (R-Neb.) that would allow DOE to consider other plutonium disposition alternatives to the Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility or consider a “strategic pause” to the plutonium disposition program; and
— An amendment submitted by Rep. Doug Lamborn (R-Colo.) that would prevent funds authorized by the bill from being used to carry out the NEW Start treaty.