The House on Tuesday evening published the text of a continuing resolution that would mostly hold federal agencies to their 2024 budget through March 14.
Federal funding will run out Friday unless the bill passes Congress and President Joe Biden (D) signs it. The House planned a vote later this week, according to a press release from the Republican leadership of the chamber’s Appropriations Committee, but had not published a precise schedule as of Tuesday evening.
President-elect Donald Trump (R) will be sworn in on Jan. 20.
Though the bill would let some Department of Energy defense-nuclear programs exceed their 2024 budgets, the exceptions, or anomalies, are few.
Overall under the bill, the Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) would get about $24.1 billion for its active nuclear-weapons programs, less than requested for 2025, while the agency’s Office of Environmental Management would get a little more than requested: $8.5 billion or so.
The anomalies
On top of the 2024 budget, NNSA’s Weapons Activities account would get roughly an extra $1.9 million “for necessary expenses related to damages caused by Hurricanes Helene and Milton.”
Defense Environmental Cleanup, which pays for nuclear-weapons cleanup in the Office of Environmental Management, would get about $2.4 million more than the 2024 appropriation, also for expenses related to Helene and Milton.
Elsewhere in the Department of Energy’s defense-nuclear portfolio, the bill would let DOE spend whatever it deems necessary “to sustain specialized security activities.” If DOE chooses to exceed the 2024 specialized security budget of roughly $350 million, the Secretary of Energy and the Office of Management and Budget must notify Congress within three days, the bill says.
DOE would also get an extra $1.75 million in the continuing resolution in its Other Defense Activities account “to conduct risk reduction and modification of National Security Systems.”
The bill’s biggest nuclear-related anomaly is outside of the NNSA: roughly $5.7 billion more than the 2024 budget for the Navy’s Virginia-class submarine program.
