In September, President Trump signed two “minibus” appropriations bills, which contained
funding for most federal agencies, avoiding a government shutdown before the beginning of Fiscal Year (FY) 2019 on October 1. For the past several years, the government has been operating through continuing resolutions, which are short-term stopgap bills that carry over previous years’ funding levels. This is the first time in over ten years that Congress has passed and the President has signed the appropriations bills before the funding deadline.
The minibus containing funding for Energy & Water Development, Military Construction and Veterans Affairs, and Legislative Branch, was signed on September 21. The last time the Energy &
Water Development appropriations bill was signed before the new fiscal year was in 2004.
The Energy and Water Development portion of the minibus provides $35.7 billion for DOE programs,
which is a $1.1 billion increase above the FY 2018 enacted level. Of that amount, $6 billion is allocated for Defense Environmental Cleanup for FY 2019, an increase of about $36 million above the FY 2018 level and $393 million above the President’s budget request. Among the sites that received an increase in funding above the FY18 levels are WIPP, Savannah River Site, and Oak Ridge Reservation.
The minibus provides $1.3 billion for the Office of Nuclear Energy (NE). Congress agreed to provide $100 million within NE’s budget for Advanced Small Modular Reactor Research and Development to support “technical, first-of-its-kind engineering and design and regulatory development of next generation light water and non-light water small modular reactors.”
Additionally, the bill provides $6.6 billion for the Office of Science and $366 million for the Advanced Research Projects Agency—Energy in fiscal year 2019.
NNSA has one of its highest budgets ever at $15.2 billion. The minibus provides $11.1 billion for Weapons Activities, which is a $457 million increase above the FY 2018 enacted level. The
bill also provides $1.9 billion for Defense Nuclear Nonproliferation, a $69 million decrease below the FY 2018 enacted level. Congress included $75 million to commence a new project to meet NNSA’s plutonium pit production targets. To accompany the project, DOE is required to report to Congress within 60 days of the bill’s passage on the scope, costs, and schedule for meeting plutonium mission targets.
The minibus addresses the recent DOE Order 140.1, which is a new policy for how the Department will interface with the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB) (Read ECA's letter to DOE on the Order here.). The appropriations conferees expressed concern about the order’s potential impacts on the ability of the DNFSB to carry out its key functions. The conference report directs DOE to brief Congress on “how the Order differs from the previous Manual, how the Department plans to
incorporate concerns from the the DNFSB and the public, and the Department's plans to implement the Order across the organization.”
What's next? The White House is already developing its FY 2020 budget proposal, which is expected to address the deficit. The administration’s chief economist, Kevin Hassett, recently stated, “The deficit is absolutely higher than anyone would
like. And I think as you watch our next budget come out, and you’ll start to see things in the next two weeks, then you’ll see a much more aggressive stance.”
Additionally, President Trump recently floated the idea of cutting five percent of each federal departments’ budgets in the upcoming fiscal year. The President’s budget request is anticipated to be released in February 2020. 
