A congressional appropriator predicted this week there will be a short-term continuing resolution passed to keep the Energy Department and other federal agencies running from Oct. 1 into December.
“We will not have a budget shutdown,” Rep. Chuck Fleischmann said during the virtual National Cleanup Workshop hosted by the Energy Communities Alliance (ECA) in cooperation with the Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management and the Energy Facilities Contractors Group (EFCOG).
Fleischmann’s assessment is consistent with a number of Washington, D.C., political observers who expect a 3-month continuing resolution, or CR, to be passed to keep things running at up to the current fiscal year’s $7.5 billion for DOE nuclear cleanup. The Hill reported this week that some Democrats might want a continuing resolution that runs into 2021.
The Congressman from Tennessee also wants to extend a provision of the so-called CARES (Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security) Act to reimburse contractors for paid leave provided certain employees who cannot work on-site or telework the COVID-19 pandemic.
“I am going to work to extend that beyond Sept. 30,” Fleischmann said. “I hope that we can get it done.” Fleischmann’s comments came during what appeared to be a pre-recorded 15-minute presentation to the virtual conference.
The lawmaker did not specify what legislative vehicle he might tap to extend paid leave for contractor staff who are able to do their work from home. Fleischmann is monitoring the negotiations and will push for the measure “regardless of the form the final CARES Act extension takes,” a spokesperson said late Thursday.
Industry sources have indicated the paid leave provision has been used primarily by small vendors and subcontractors.
Fiscal 2020 ends Sept. 30. The House of Representatives in July passed a $1.3 trillion spending package that includes an energy and water development plan with at least $7.3 billion in funding for the DOE Office of Environmental Management plus up to $3 billion in “emergency” funding for shovel-ready projects.
President Donald Trump has threatened to veto the proposal, which goes well beyond the $6.1 billion proposed by the administration for the DOE Office of Environmental Management in February. The Senate has yet to write or pass its spending bills for fiscal 2021 and its GOP leadership has not announced plans to do so in the remaining two weeks of fiscal year 2020.
The semiautonomous National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) was funded at $16.7 billion in fiscal 2020. The White House proposed $19.8 billion and the House has approved $18 billion in its bill for fiscal 2021, meaning a CR would bust civilian nuclear weapons spending below even what the Democrat-controlled House was willing to give.
“The House did its job this year in terms of addressing appropriations bills,” said Fleischmann, who serves on the House Appropriations Committee. The lawmaker’s district includes part of the Oak Ridge Site in Tennessee.
