IN COMING CR, OMB PUSHING FOR NNSA WEAPONS, USEC ‘ANOMALIES’

The National Nuclear Security Administration’s weapons program and USEC’s research, development and deployment program for the American Centrifuge Project would get boosts in the forthcoming Fiscal Year 2013 Continuing Resolution, according to a list of “anomalies” recently sent to Congress by the White House Office of Management and Budget. While most federal programs—and the bulk of the Department of Energy—would be funded at Fiscal Year 2012 levels under what is expected to be a six-month stopgap funding measure, the White House is pushing for Congress to allow the NNSA’s weapons program to spend at the level of its FY2013 request—approximately $7.6 billion, $344 million more than in FY2012—while $100 million would keep the ACP project afloat for the first half of FY2013. It remains to be seen if Congressional appropriators will support the anomalies. The House is expected to introduce its version of the CR next week. House and Senate leaders have expressed interest in having a relatively “clean” CR without many riders, but the funding levels recommended by OMB largely match levels already supported by House and Senate appropriators in their separate funding bills earlier this year, generating some optimism that the anomalies will find support in Congress.