The House Energy and Water Appropriations Subcommittee will mark up its version of the Fiscal Year 2014 Energy and Water Appropriations Act next week, and a tight allocation for the subcommittee could mean stiff cuts for DOE and National Nuclear Security Administration. “What we anticipate there is that it will be dramatically bad for the Department of Energy in that House mark, just because their funding level is so low,” DOE Budget Director Christopher Johns said at the Energy Facility Contractors Group annual meeting yesterday. “It reflects not so much the view of the subcommittee we work with but rather the overall funding level.”
The subcommittee’s $30.4 billion allocation is $2.9 billion below the panel’s pre-sequester level from a year ago, and $700 million below the post-sequester level. That is likely to force tough decisions on key weapons, nonproliferation and cleanup work, which competes along other DOE offices and water projects for funding in the committee. Rep. Chuck Fleischmann (R-Tenn.), who confirmed that the markup would take place next week during an address at EFCOG, acknowledged that the country’s difficult financial situation was forcing difficult decisions on the subcommittee. “I’m going to continue to work hard and advocate for the programs I alluded to today,” Fleischmann said on the sidelines of the meeting, referencing the broad DOE work conducted in Oak Ridge. “But I have to be a realist. There are limited amounts of dollars there, especially in light of some of the other bills that are being passed.”
