House subcommittee approves bill to fund NNSA above request; UPF gets extra

WASHINGTON — The National Nuclear Security Administration would get a year-over-year raise and roughly 2% more than requested under a 2025 budget bill approved here Friday by a House subcommittee.

Among the beneficiaries would be the delayed, budget-busting Uranium Processing Facility (UPF)  at the Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge, Tenn., for which the House Appropriations energy and water development subcommittee has proposed a $30-million year-over-year increase that eclipses the White House’s request.

The subcommittee passed the bill Friday morning by voice vote. The full Appropriations Committee planned to mark up the measure July 9, Rep. Chuck Fleischmann (R-Tenn.), chair of the subcommittee, told the Exchange Monitor this week.

Overall, the subcommittee’s bill would give the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) about $25.5 billion: 2% more than requested for fiscal year 2025 and roughly 5.5% more than the fiscal year 2024 appropriation. 

NNSA’s Weapons Activities account would get most of the extra funds, and while the subcommittee had yet to release many of the details of its spending proposal at deadline for Nuclear Security & Deterrence Monitor, Fleischmann told the Monitor Friday that the bill has $840 million for UPF.

That is $40 million more than the president requested and $30 million more than Congress provided in a 2024 appropriations bill for the next-generation factory for nuclear-weapon secondary stages.

NNSA’s Weapons Activities account overall would get more than $20 billion if the bill is signed, almost $500 million more than requested and $1.2 billion more than the 2024 appropriation.

That $1.2 billion accounts for almost all of the roughly $1.3-billion raise the agency would get year-over-year. Within the weapons account, there is added funding for plutonium pit production and the warhead for a nuclear-tipped sea-launched cruise missile, according to a summary posted online.

The bill also includes about $2.4 billion for defense nuclear nonproliferation and $2.1 billion for naval reactors, $20.3 billion for stockpile modernization.

“Defense programs are prioritized as we modernize the nuclear weapons stockpile in the United States,” Rep. Tom Cole (R-Okla.), co-chairman of the Energy and Water Development and Related Agencies Subcommittee, said in an emailed press release. “Now more than ever, we need to lead in cutting-edge research and our nuclear deterrence.”