Both chambers of Congress will remain on recess later than scheduled, returning no earlier than May 4, lawmakers said this week.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) announced the upper chamber would add two weeks to its current recess in a Tuesday note to fellow senators, then in a press release. His announcement followed a similar message from House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) on Monday.
The goal is to continue social distancing and combat the spread of the respiratory disease COVID-19, the lawmakers said. Congress was originally scheduled to return from recess on April 20.
“As the country continues working together to flatten the curve, following the advice of health experts, the full Senate is not expected to travel back to Washington D.C. sooner than Monday, May 4th,” McConnell said in the release. Senators would be given 24 hours’ notice before being required to return for a regular session.
Any pending nominations will now be extended until at least May 4 as a result.
That includes two nominees to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission: serving Commissioner David Wright and Senate Appropriations Committee staffer Christopher Hanson. Both are awaiting votes by the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee following a March 11 nomination hearing.
However, the Senate is scheduled to vote at 5:30 p.m. May 4 on Department of Justice attorney Robert Feitel’s nomination to become NRC inspector general.
Undersecretary of Energy Mark Menezes is also waiting on a hearing before the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee following his March 12 nomination as deputy energy secretary.
Meanwhile, the House and Senate Appropriations committees also have yet to issue their fiscal 2021 budget bills for any federal agencies.
The Energy Department requested $35.4 billion for the budget year beginning Oct. 1, including just over $1 billion for the Office of Nuclear Energy. That would be down from $38.5 billion enacted in the current fiscal 2020.
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is requesting $863.4 million, rising from the current $855.5 million.
Unlike the past three budget proposals, the Trump administration did not request any funding for either agency to resume licensing of the nuclear waste repository under Yucca Mountain, Nev. Instead, the White House wants $27.5 million for the Energy Department to kick-start development of centralized, interim storage of tens of thousands of tons of radioactive waste now dispersed around the country.
This story first appeared in Nuclear Security & Deterrence Monitor affiliate publication Defense Daily.
