NNSA WEAPONS PROGRAM GETS BOOST IN FY13

The National Nuclear Security Administration’s weapons program received a funding bump in Fiscal Year 2013 that many agencies might envy, but the $7.58 billion requested by President Obama isn’t likely to appease some Congressional lawmakers that had expected the Administration to request even more as part of a plan to modernize the nation’s nuclear weapons complex and arsenal. The $7.58 billion represents a $363.2 million increase over the amount Congress appropriated in FY2012, but it was well short of the $7.95 billion the agency had said it thought it needed just a year ago. The request reflects two years of funding cuts from Congress, and NNSA Administrator Tom D’Agostino said there should be no doubt about President Obama’s commitment to modernization. “The bottom line is the President continues his commitment, we have taken a look at what Congress has done and authorized and appropriated, we’ve made our adjustments, and we’ve focused on what’s important in the program and that’s what we’re asking for,” D’Agostino said yesterday.