Staff Reports
NS&D Monitor
10/2/2015
Congress this week passed a continuing resolution (CR) that will fund the federal government through Dec. 11 at fiscal 2015 enacted levels and prevents a government shutdown. The CR, which President Barack Obama signed on Wednesday, provides Congress an additional 10 weeks to work toward a budget solution for fiscal 2016, and appropriations leaders hope to avoid the need for any additional CRs or shutdown threats. “Once again, Congress has had to act on a short-term funding bill to keep the lights on in government,” House Appropriations Chair Hal Rogers (R-Ky.) said in a statement. “This yearly, destabilizing practice is bad for the U.S. economy, bad for the reliability of important government programs – including our national defense – and wastes federal money by arbitrarily postponing actions that make better use of taxpayer dollars. However, this legislation is absolutely necessary, as the alternative – a government shutdown – is reckless and irresponsible.”
The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) during the CR period remains funded at its fiscal 2015 level, which for the full year provided $8.23 billion for the agency’s weapons programs – including work done at the national labs – $35.7 million for work to sustain plutonium capabilities at the Los Alamos National Laboratory, and $335 million for work on the Uranium Processing Facility at the Y-12 National Security Complex.
