The U.S. Senate on Monday again failed to end debate and make possible a vote on its fiscal 2017 energy and water spending bill, the first appropriations legislation to come to the floor during the current budget process. A largely party line dispute regarding an amendment to the bill has divided the Senate, with Democrats refusing to support a cloture vote.
The $37.5 billion bill passed smoothly through the committee process, as Appropriations energy and water subcommittee Chairman Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) and Ranking Member Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) were able to hold off any controversial amendments until the floor debate.
However, an amendment from Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) demanding that the Obama administration refrain from using any taxpayer dollars to fund U.S. purchases of heavy water from Iran derailed the bill in late April. He submitted the amendment following reports that 32 tons of Iranian heavy water, with a purchase price of over $8 million, was headed to the Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee under the nuclear deal Washington and several partner governments signed with Tehran.
The Senate twice voted in the last week of April to end debate and move toward a vote on the spending legislation. Both motions failed.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), in response to the failed motion to end the debate Monday on the full appropriations bill, forced cloture on the Cotton amendment, setting it up for a vote in the next two days. That could then pave the way for a vote on the full appropriations bill.
“I would plan on there being a vote on the Cotton amendment. … The majority leader, any majority leader has the right to file cloture on an amendment like the Cotton amendment and by Wednesday we’ll vote on it at 60 votes,” Alexander said.
Alexander also said he would oppose the Cotton amendment should it come to a vote.
The E&W funding bill would provide $632 million for fossil energy research and development at the Department of Energy, $32 million more than sought by the administration. That would include $377 million for DOE Office of Fossil Energy carbon capture and storage and advanced power systems programs. Within that amount is $101 million for carbon capture, $8.2 million under the DOE request, and $106 million for carbon storage, $15.1 million above the administration proposal.
The Senate has also rejected a DOE plan to eliminate the separation of natural gas and coal in the fossil fuel budget structure.
The House Appropriations Committee approved its $37.4 billion version of the spending bill on April 19, but a floor debate has not been scheduled.
The lower chamber’s legislation would provide $645 million for DOE fossil energy R&D, with $442 million targeted for coal CCS and advanced power systems programs. That would encompass $109.2 million for carbon capture activities and about $86 million for carbon storage.
