The Senate completed a procedural step Tuesday that brings the chamber one step closer to voting on a short-term spending bill that would keep the Energy Department funded at an annualized level of about $29.5 billion through Dec. 9.
After a false start Monday, when partisan politics unrelated to DOE spending delayed the vote, senators on Tuesday voted 89-7 to curtail debate on the bill, inching the measure closer to a floor vote. Senate Majority Leader Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) has said he wants the Senate pass the bill by Friday and then leave Washington until after the Nov. 8 presidential election. If behind-the-scenes debate takes longer than that, the Senate had been scheduled to remain in Washington until Oct. 7.
Once the Senate approves the bill, the House will have to pass the measure before it can be presented to President Barack Obama for his signature.
The fiscal 2016 budget levels DOE would get for the next two months if the stopgap measure becomes law fund the National Nuclear Security Administration at an annual rate of about $12.5 billion, and DOE’s Office of Environmental Management at an annualized level of about $6.1 billion: about 3 percent less and 1 percent more, respectively, than what the White House requested for the budget year beginning Oct. 1.
Meanwhile, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission would receive annualized funding of just over $1 billion under the continuing resolution: about 2 percent more than the 2017 request.
