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.
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 the roughly $863 million sought by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission for 2021, up a little from the 2020 budget of more than $855 million. Of that, nearly all is for salaries and expenses, with $13.5 million for the NRC Office of Inspector General.
The House also recommended $210 million for the Army Corps of Engineers’ Formerly Utilized Sites Remedial Action Program (FUSRAP), and again rejected the administration’s to transfer administration of the radioacitve contamination cleanup program to the Department of Energy. The House’s 2021 recommendation is $10 million above the 2020 FUSRAP budget and $60 million more than requested.
The Nuclear Waste Technical Review Board would receive $3.6 million from the House, even with its current funding but $2 million below what it requested.
