Bill Would Trim $111 Million From Weapons Account, Boost Funding For MOX Facility
Todd Jacobson
NS&D Monitor
6/13/2014
Lawmakers on the House Energy and Water Appropriations Subcommittee cleared the Fiscal Year 2015 Energy and Water Appropriations Act this week, including a slight $111 million cut to the National Nuclear Security Administration’s weapons program, though the $8.20 billion provided for the program represents a $423.2 million increase over FY 2014 enacted funding levels. The Administration asked for $8.31 billion for the NNSA’s weapons program, but a tight subcommittee allocation $50 million less than in FY 2014 made it difficult for the panel to match the Administration’s request.
Details of the appropriations bill have not been released, but Congressional aides say that no specific program is significantly impacted by the cuts, which are spread across the weapons account. “This bill reflects the tough decisions necessitated by our challenging fiscal environment, while placing emphasis where it is needed most: meeting critical national security needs and investing in our nation’s infrastructure,” Rep. Mike Simpson (R-Idaho), the chairman of the subcommittee, said in a statement. “It prioritizes the maintenance and safety of our nuclear weapons stockpile, while also funding important infrastructure projects and research that will increase U.S. economic competitiveness and growth.” The House Appropriations Committee could mark up the bill as early as next week.
MOX Project Gets Another Boost
The House panel’s draft spending bill would also oppose efforts by the Department of Energy to put the Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication facility into “cold standby” in FY 2015. The legislation specifies that MOX funding “may be made available only for construction and program support activities for such Project,” according to the bill language. It also provides a boost over the Department’s FY 2015 budget request of $196 million “in the ballpark” of cost increases in other bills, according to a Congressional aide. The Senate Defense Authorization bill unveiled last week would increase authorized construction funding for the plant to a total of $456.1 million.
The bill provides $1.52 billion for the NNSA’s nonproliferation account, largely matching the Administration’s $1.55 billion request, but the funding increase for MOX was made possible by cuts to NNSA nonproliferation work in Russia, according to the bill. While the extent of the cut to nonproliferation work in Russia is hard to determine because the funding is not contained in one particular account, the bill prohibits nonproliferation funds for “contracts with, or Federal assistance to,” Russia, a nod to concerns about possible Russian violations of the Intermediate Nuclear Forces Treaty and tensions between Washington and Moscow over Russia’s actions in Ukraine.
Allocation ‘Simply Insufficient’
Other nonproliferation areas, like the Global Threat Reduction Initiative and Nonproliferation Research and Development, were also increased, but not enough to satisfy the top Democrat on the subcommittee, Rep. Marcy Kaptur (D-Ohio), who registered frustration at some of the funding levels in the bill. “I do have concerns with amounts provided for certain accounts within the bill. In particular the level of funding for nonproliferation activities at the NNSA and the defense environmental cleanup account, where despite the Chairman’s best efforts on these fronts, the Subcommittee’s allocation was simply insufficient,” Kaptur said during the June 10 markup.
Simpson blamed the cuts on the tight allocation. “Funding for defense programs is down $50 million. I’m afraid that within that level, it was impossible to meet all of our defense-spending priorities,” he said. “We prioritized funding for our stockpile and naval reactors work, but were unable to replace much of what the Administration’s request cut out of nonproliferation. We were able to cut out approximately $100 million in the request for activities in Russia, and redirect another $150 million in carryover from stalled Russia programs. The recommendation uses this additional funding to increase high-priority nonproliferation work above the request in fiscal year 2015 and to avoid layoffs at the MOX plant in South Carolina until a final analysis is done on the project’s future.”
