Lawmakers left town this week without passing a short-term budget bill to keep federal agencies open beyond Sept. 30, but media reported on Friday that congressional leaders are considering moving full-year spending bills that include budgets for civilian nuclear programs.
The Department of Energy’s Office of Nuclear Energy only stands to gain if House Republicans allow votes on an energy and water development appropriations act that has been stalled since it passed the full Appropriations committee in June. Politico reported that senior Republicans in the House were at least considering this. The bill would also unlock 2024 funding for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
The White House requested about $1.56 billion for Nuclear Energy in 2024, 6% above the 2023 budget. House appropriators proposed nearly $1.8 billion for the office, which would be more than 20% higher than the 2023 appropriation. The Senate, on the other hand, went along with the White House’s request.
A continuing resolution stopgap would leave the office with the annualized equivalent of some $1.47 billion, a worst-case scenario for Nuclear Energy among all the current possibilities.
House appropriators want to shovel more money into DOE programs that aid development of advanced nuclear reactors. The Senate bill does not, but it does tell DOE to move as fast as it can to find somewhere to build a federally operated interim storage facility for spent nuclear fuel.
At a high level, the sticking point between the House and Senate this year is whether spending caps in this spring’s legislative deal to increase U.S. borrowing caps are a floor or a ceiling for federal budgets. The House has proposed a 2024 federal budget far below what the deal allows and the Senate says that doing so violates the spirit of the agreement.
