After a protracted and highly partisan spending debate that came within two days of forcing a government shutdown, Congress on Wednesday passed a temporary budget to fund federal agencies at 2016 levels for the next two months.
The Senate approved the so-called continuing resolution Wednesday afternoon, after Democrats in that chamber backed off their insistence that the measure include emergency funds to treat lead-contaminated drinking water in Flint, Mich. The House of Representatives then overwhelmingly approved the bill in a rush vote late Wednesday evening. In a statement of administration policy published online Wednesday, President Barack Obama indicated he would sign the bill. The legislation would fund federal agencies at 2016 levels through Dec. 9. The Energy Department would be funded at an annualized level of roughly $29.5 billion.
Continuing resolutions can be challenging for federal contractors, because such measures freeze funding levels and can preclude expected budget increases needed to ramp up projects. The bill Congress just passed includes only one explicit funding anomaly for DOE, although the agency could — with Congress’ consent — shift continuing resolution funds to projects that need them from projects that can go without, in a process known as reprogramming.
Assuming a straight extension of 2016 funding, however, monthly budgets during the continuing resolution for select U.S. nuclear activities would be:
- About $1 billion a month for DOE’s semi-autonomous National Nuclear Security Administration, which builds nuclear weapons and materials for the Pentagon: about 3 percent less than the administration’s request rate for 2017.
- About $510 million a month for DOE’s Environmental Management office, which manages cleanup of Cold War nuclear waste: roughly 1 percent higher than the White House’s requested rate. Of all Environmental Management projects, only uranium-enrichment cleanup at DOE sites near Piketon, Ohio and Paducah, Ky., would be explicitly spared from cuts, under the budget language approved Wednesday.
- About $83 million a month for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, which regulates civilian nuclear power plants and the associated waste streams: 3 percent or so lower than the administration’s request.
Congress is now set to adjourn and lawmakers to return to their home states to campaign ahead of the Nov. 8 presidential election. Members will return to Washington afterward to hammer out a permanent 2017 spending bill.
