Alissa Tabirian
NS&D Monitor
12/18/2015
The $1.1 trillion federal omnibus spending bill for fiscal 2016 passed today in the House and the Senate provides $12.5 billion for the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), a $1.1 billion increase from the fiscal 2015 level, including $8.8 billion for weapons activities, a $660 million increase from fiscal 2015.
The $37.2 billion energy and water appropriations legislation – a $3 billion boost from 2015 – “reflects the increased domestic discretionary funding provided by the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2015,” according to the bill summary. Of the $29.7 billion in funding for the Department of Energy (DOE), the legislation provides $1.3 billion for nuclear warhead refurbishment programs, $1.4 billion for naval reactors, and $2.3 billion to address the NNSA’s deferred maintenance backlog, the summary says. The agency’s $3.6 billion deferred maintenance backlog has been projected to grow, which the NNSA previously attributed to a “constrained budget environment.”
NNSA’s weapons activities include research and development as well as production at the agency’s sites across the nuclear security enterprise to maintain a reliable and secure nuclear deterrent. These activities include the Stockpile Stewardship Program, which maintains the weapons stockpile without full-scale explosive testing.
The legislation also includes $430 million for the Uranium Processing Facility being built at the Y-12 National Security Complex, $8 million for the design of a replacement to the NNSA’s Albuquerque Complex, and $1.9 billion for defense nuclear nonproliferation activities worldwide. It provides $383.7 million for the Office of the NNSA Administrator’s salaries and expenses and $830.8 million for the eight NNSA sites’ operations. This includes $196.5 million for the Los Alamos National Laboratory, $115.3 million for Sandia National Laboratories, and $120.6 million for the Y-12 National Security Complex.
Following its passage in both chambers of Congress, the bill now moves to the White House. The White House expressed its support for the bill that will fund the government through Sept. 30, 2016, saying it “appreciates the bipartisan effort to provide full-year appropriations legislation” that is “largely free of new unrelated ideological riders.”
Lawmakers from states that host national laboratories applauded the agreement. Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) said the bill’s funding for DOE “helps solve critical problems facing our country,” and Sen. Tom Udall (D-N.M.) said he is “extremely pleased” by the bill that “will support jobs at New Mexico’s national labs and military bases.”
