President Barack Obama on Thursday signed a stopgap budget bill that freezes federal spending at fiscal 2016 levels and leaves the Energy Department with an annualized budget of $29.5 billion through Dec. 9.
Under the continuing resolution for fiscal 2017, which Congress approved Wednesday after weeks of partisan bickering unrelated to nuclear programs, DOE’s program for managing the nation’s spent nuclear fuel will be funded at about $1.9 million per month, significantly down from the $6.4 million monthly funding levels approved for the budget year that ends today. The program, known as the Integrated Waste Management System (IWMS), includes the department’s consent-based siting program for nuclear waste storage. The department received $22.5 million for IWMS in fiscal 2016, compared to the$76.3 million request for 2017, which included $39.4 million in new funding for consent-based siting.
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission, under the continuing resolution, will be funded at a monthly level of about $82.5 million, which is about 2 percent more than the regulator’s fiscal 2017 request. The NRC regulates civilian nuclear power plants and their associated waste streams.
With the season’s only must-pass bill out of the way, Congress now adjourns until mid-November so members can campaign ahead of the U.S. election on Nov. 8. By the time lawmakers return to Washington to begin earnest negotiation on a permanent 2017 budget, either Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump will have been elected president of the United States.
House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) has voiced support for a “minibus” approach to 2017 spending, which would involve separating the 12 individual spending bills into small packages instead of pursuing a single omnibus bill.
