The House Armed Services Committee’s version of the National Defense Authorization Act for fiscal 2022 would authorize the full $6.84 billion sought by the Joe Biden administration for Defense Environmental Cleanup at Department of Energy nuclear sites, according to the chairman’s mark.
Defense cleanup of 16 Cold War and Manhattan Project sites accounts for most of the spending for the DOE’s Office of Environmental Management, and the draft National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) from the House panel would exceed the $6.57 billion approved in the Senate Armed Services Committee’s bill in July.
The full House of Representatives voted in July to approve an Office of Environmental Management budget of about $7.8 billion, which includes $6.6 billion for defense cleanup in the fiscal year starting Oct. 1. The Senate Appropriations Committee has called for $6.5 billion in Defense Environmental Cleanup, which would still be more than the fiscal 2021 level of $6.4 billion.
The House panel’s NDAA proposal mirrors the DOE’s quest to provide the two offices at the Hanford Site in Washington state, the agency’s largest and more complex cleanup property, with a combined $2.47 billion. House and Senate appropriations measures would up Hanford spending to about $2.6 billion
House Armed Services Chair Rep. Adam Smith (D-Wash.) and Ranking Member Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Ala.) have scheduled a markup or amendment session on the panel’s version of the defense policy and authorization bill at 10 a.m. Eastern Time this Wednesday, Sept. 1.
At whatever point the full Senate and House of Representatives pass their NDAA bills, a conference committee drawn from the two chambers will be organized to smooth out the differences between the two versions. Eventually, the defense authorization bill would go to the president for his signature.
Last year the final NDAA bills passed both the House and Senate by wide margins on Dec. 11, 2020. Although then-President Donald Trump vetoed the legislation on Dec. 23, the two chambers voted within the following days to override the veto.
