On Tuesday, with an overwhelming bipartisan vote, the House rewrote and then passed a stopgap spending bill that would freeze budgets for Department of Energy nuclear programs at 2020 levels through Dec. 11.
The revised bill sailed through 357-57, with 14 not voting and one voting “present.” All 56 “no” votes, and 13 of those who didn’t vote, were Republicans, representing just under 35% of the House GOP conference.
The rewritten bill included funding Republicans wanted for the federal Commodity Credit Corporation, which provides income assistance and other payments for farmers, including those whose bottom lines have been hurt by tough-on-imports U.S. trade policies. Democrats left that money out of the spending bill they unveiled Monday, and which they appeared poised to cram through the lower chamber on a partisan vote, until Tuesday’s compromise.
The Senate is expected to visit the issue next week.
Under the bill, DOE’s Office of Environmental Management would get the annualized equivalent of about $7.45 billion for most of the first quarter of fiscal year 2021, which is some $1.3 billion more than requested. The National Nuclear Security Administration would get the equivalent of roughly $16.7 billion, nearly $3 billion less than requested for active nuclear-weapons maintenance and modernization programs.
DOE’s Office of Nuclear Energy would get $156 million under the continuing resolution, or about $28 million below the request. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission would receive $855 million or so, about $10 million below the request.
