The Senate could vote this week on a short-term federal funding extension and soon after that on the 2023 National Defense Authorization Act, leaving a long-term 2023 spending bill as the last domino to fall before the 118th Congress begins in January.
In the Department of Energy, both the National Nuclear Security Administration’s (NNSA) active nuclear-weapons programs and many of the Office of Environmental Management’s nuclear-weapons cleanup programs are authorized in the annual National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), which sets policy and spending limits for separate appropriations bills.
The proposed 2023 NDAA, which could come up for an important procedural vote this week or next, raises spending limits at the NNSA and the cleanup office year-over-year. The short-term budget extension, or continuing resolution, that could hit the Senate floor as soon as Thursday would merely extend 2022 budgets through Dec. 23 while lawmakers trade horses to determine what makes it into the omnibus 2023 appropriations bill that could stabilize budgets until October.
The Democrat-controlled House passed the short-term continuing resolution on Wednesday, 224-201, with some Republicans breaking rank. Under the stopgap, NNSA gets the annualized equivalent of $20.66 billion, DOE’s Office of Environmental Management gets a $7.9-billion-equivalent budget and the agency’s Office of Nuclear Energy gets $1.65 billion.
The 2023 NDAA would authorize NNSA to spend about $22.3 billion, or about $880 million more than requested. It would also authorize the Office of Environmental Management to spend almost $7 billion, $100 million more than requested, on Defense Environmental Cleanup, the largest cleanup account.
When the NDAA comes up in the Senate, there could be some extra fireworks when upper-chamber Democrats force a vote on Sen. Joe Manchin’s (D-WVa.) NDAA amendment to speed up permit processing for fossil fuel projects. President Joe Biden (D) on Thursday threw his support behind Manchin’s amendment, which both Republicans and environmentally minded Democrats have opposed.
Meanwhile, Republicans were set to take over the House of Representatives on Jan. 3, when the 118th Congress was scheduled to gavel in. Democrats retained control of the Senate, and effectively built on their majority, after November’s midterm elections, despite Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (I-Ariz.) announcing that she was switching her party affiliation to independent from Democrat.
Editor’s note, Dec. 16, 2022, 9:42 a.m Eastern time U.S. The story was changed to include the correct annualized appropriation for the NNSA under the short-term continuing resolution.
