The House and Senate are a step closer to resolving their differences on a three-bill appropriations package that includes the Department of Energy fiscal 2019 budget, after the upper chamber on Wednesday voted to begin final negotiations on the measure.
In a procedural move that cleared the way for lawmakers from each chamber to negotiate a compromise bill for President Donald Trump to sign, the Senate voted unanimously to proceed to conference on H.R. 5895: the so-called minibus appropriations act that includes the Department of Energy’s (DOE) proposed appropriation for the fiscal year that begins Oct. 1.
That bicameral conference was scheduled for Thursday, according to a joint press release from the House and Senate Appropriations committees.
The House wants to appropriate $35.5 billion for DOE in the upcoming budger year, while the Senate recommended about $35 billion. Either appropriation would be a small increase from the current funding level, and much more than the White House requested — mostly owing to proposed cuts to non-nuclear parts of the agency’s portfolio to which lawmakers did not agree.
The chambers have more than $500 million in differences to settle over their proposed National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) budgets. Both sides of the Hill want to fully fund ongoing weapons modernization programs, and provide $65 million to start work on a low-yield, submarine-launched ballistic-missile warhead, but the House has proposed far more funding for maintenance and upgrades of NNSA buildings and infrastructure.
The Senate also wants to cancel the Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility under construction at the Savannah River Site in Aiken, S.C., while the House wants to continue funding the over-budget plutonium-disposal plant.
For Cold War nuclear-cleanup programs managed by DOE’s Office of Environmental Management, the Senate recommended $7.2 billion: $300 million more than the $6.9 billion the House wants to provide for fiscal 2019.
The House proposed $270 million for DOE and Nuclear Regulatory Commission licensing programs for the proposed Yucca Mountain, Nev., nuclear waste repository, $100 million more than the White House sought for the project in 2019. The Senate recommended no funding for Yucca whatsoever.
Meanwhile, the Senate proposed about $898 million in base funding for the NRC itself in 2019, while the House recommended $953 million.
