A House subcommittee on Wednesday was poised to approve several bipartisan bills with nuclear policy reforms, including at the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and the Department of Energy.
The mark up was set to resume at 10:00 a.m. Eastern time. The House Energy and Commerce Committee’s energy, climate and grid security subcommittee began considering the bills in a Tuesday markup session that was delayed by internal Republican caucus meetings about who the chamber’s majority party should elect to be speaker of the House.
Some of the bills under consideration, and their sponsors, are:
The NRC Mission Alignment Act, for which no sponsors were listed. The bill is aimed at “improving the general welfare and licensing efficiency” of the NRC by, among other things, changing the law to require that licensing nuclear power plants “does not unnecessarily limit” either “the potential of nuclear energy to improve the general welfare” or “the benefits of nuclear energy technology to society.” Rep. Frank Pallone (D-N.J.), the ranking member of the full committee, opposed the bill in July, when the subcommittee conducted hearings on many of the same bills it is marking up on Tuesday.
The Global Nuclear Energy Assessment and Cooperation Act, Reps. Buddy Carter (R-Ga.) and Scott Peters (D-Calif.). The bill would require the Department of Energy to study the “global status of the civilian nuclear energy industry” within a year of the measure becoming law. The bill broadly seeks to show Congress how U.S. allies are deploying or plan to deploy nuclear energy.
The Nuclear Fuel Security Act of 2023, Bob Latta (R-Ohio), Jim Clyburn (D-S.C.), Troy Balderson (R-Ohio), and Annie Kuster (D-N.H.). According to the bill text, the measure would require the secretary of energy to create a “Nuclear Fuel Security Program” to support more domestic production of low-enriched uranium and high assay low-enriched uranium, a more energy-dense type of nuclear-reactor fuel.
The Strengthening the NRC Workforce Act of 2023, Rep. Diana DeGette (D-Colo.). The bill aims to “address the insufficient compensation and recruitment of employees and other personnel of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission,” according to its text.
The committee posted the full slate of bills it is considering during the markup on its website. If the 17 bills in Tuesday’s markup are sent to the full Energy and Commerce Committee, they would have to be approved there and then allowed on to the House floor by the House Rules Committee for final passage in the chamber.
However, until the Republican majority elects a speaker, the House effectively cannot proceed with other business. In early October, every Democrat in the House joined with a small minority of Republicans to oust then-Speaker Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.). Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.), a member of the House GOP’s right wing, called the vote to boot McCarthy. As of Wednesday, the House had not elected a new speaker.
The Senate has already passed a substantial package of civilian nuclear policy reforms as part of the upper chamber’s 2023 National Defense Authorization Act.
The federal government is currently funded by a stopgap budget bill that runs through Nov. 17. Congress will have to pass a new budget bill by then to avoid a government shut down.
