Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm was scheduled to testify before the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee Tuesday morning on the Joe Biden administration’s $46-billion fiscal 2022 budget request for the department.
Granholm was to appear before the committee, chaired by Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) at 10 a.m. Eastern Time to explain, and if need be, defend, the agency’s fiscal year 2022 spending proposal.
The Biden White House has proposed about $7.6 billion in spending for nuclear cleanup programs managed by the Office of Environmental Management (EM), roughly flat with the fiscal 2021 level. At the same time, it seeks around $20 billion for the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), about level with the prior Congressional appropriation, but more than 10% below what the Donald Trump administration thought the NNSA’s nuclear weapons programs would need for the fiscal year that begins Oct. 1.
Granholm is the only witness listed and her written testimony was not yet available online as of mid-afternoon Monday. The hearing in Room 366 of the Dirksen Senate Office Building will be carried online on the committee’s webpage.
The overall DOE budget request is 16.6% greater than the $39.6-billion enacted by Congress for fiscal 2021.
