March 17, 2014

REPUBLICANS BLOCK ACTION ON SENATE E&W BILL

By ExchangeMonitor

While the House firmed up plans to move legislation containing an extension to the Continuing Resolution that is currently funding government agencies through Dec. 16, plans to combine the Fiscal Year 2012 Energy and Water Appropriations Act with two other spending bills in the Senate hit a significant roadblock yesterday as Republican lawmakers blocked the move on procedural grounds. Senate leaders had hoped to combine the Energy and Water bill with State Department/Foreign Operations and Financial Services legislation, but several senators blocked an attempt by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) to get unanimous consent to combine the bills. With the E&W-led ‘minibus’ in jeopardy, Senate staffers have begun to suggest that remaining appropriations work is likely to be rolled into a catch-all ‘omnibus’ appropriations act in December.

Nonetheless, several amendments were offered on the bill related to National Nuclear Security Administration and cleanup work yesterday, including one from Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) that would cap spending on Richland cleanup work at $933.7 million (a $20 million cut) and require the Government Accountability Office to review the total cost of cleanup at the site. An amendment from Sen. Mark Begich (R-Alaska) would increase NNSA funding by $406.6 million ($321.5 million for the agency’s weapons program and $85.1 million for its nonproliferation account), though Senate aides suggested that the amendment would run into procedural issues because it would offset the increase with funding reductions for missile defense work in the FY2012 Defense Appropriations Act.

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