President Joe Biden (D) was set to sign a fiscal 2024 National Defense Authorization Act that authorizes raises for nuclear weapons programs and flat spending for nuclear-weapons cleanup but no major changes for civilian nuclear energy policies.
This week, with overwhelming bipartisan majorities, both chambers of Congress approved the bill, a compromise version of separate House and Senate bills that was unveiled last week after closed-door negotiations between a group of Representatives and Senators.
For active nuclear weapons programs managed by DOE’s National Nuclear Security Administration, the 2024 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) authorizes $24 billion, about $200 million more than requested.
For cleanup of shuttered nuclear weapons sites managed by DOE’s Office of Environmental Management, the bill authorizes more than $7 billion for the defense environmental cleanup account, about $30 million less than what the White House requested.
The 2024 NDAA does not contain a Senate-authored package of reforms for civilian nuclear energy policy at the Department of Energy and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
The House passed the measure on Thursday by 407-9 with 18 not voting. The Senate passed the bill Wednesday by 87-13. Biden has said he would sign the bill, which sets policy and spending limits for national defense programs, including those managed by the Department of Energy.
The NDAA does not provide funding for federal agencies. Separate appropriations bills do that. DOE and some federal agencies are funded at 2023 levels through Jan. 19. The Department of Defense and another set of agencies are funded Feb. 2.
Congress had not unveiled permanent 2024 spending bills as of Friday.
As he said he would, Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Miss.) voted “nay” on the compromise NDAA, which did not extend the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act (RECA) for 19 years, as he and a small bipartisan block of Senators had proposed. RECA provides health care benefits to people sickened by radiation from nuclear weapon sites.
