As the Senate Armed Services Committee is set to mark up the fiscal 2013 National Defense Authorization Act starting Wednesday, nine senators from states with cleanup sites are reminding committee leadership of the importance of defense environmental cleanup. The senators are requesting that the authorization bill meet the administration’s request of almost $5.5 billion for fiscal 2013. “We are acutely aware of the budget crisis facing our nation and that funding levels for many federal programs are likely to decrease in FY 2013,” the letter said. “While fiscal realities have changed, the federal government’s legal and moral obligations to clean up its defense nuclear waste have not.”
Authorized funding for defense environmental cleanup is not about new or expanded government, but about meeting legal commitments that the federal government has already made, the letter said. The nation is making considerable progress in cleaning up defense nuclear waste site, but needs resources to continue to ensure cleanup programs maintain critical technical expertise and to keep skilled workers on the job, the letter said. Fiscal 2013 could be a particularly difficult year because of the looming possibility of sequestration triggered by the failure of a special congressional deficit committee to reach agreement. The letter was signed by Sens. Patty Murray (D-Wash.), Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.), Jeff Bingaman (D-N.M.), Tom Udall (D-N.M.), Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), James Risch (R-Idaho) and Mike Crapo (R-Idaho).