House passes FY 2020 NDAA with $23 billion for DOE
ECA Staff | 12/12/2019
On Wednesday the House of Representatives passed the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year 2020 by a 377-48 vote.
The annual defense bill authorizes a total of $23 billion for the Department of Energy’s national security programs, which is around $100 below the President’s request.
The bill authorizes a continuously growing NNSA budget of $16.5 billion, which is $1.3 billion above the FY 2019 enacted level.
The $5.5 billion authorized for defense environmental cleanup would be the lowest level of funding since FY 2017. The bill also authorizes $162 million for the Office of Legacy Management.
While the President requested $26 million for Yucca Mountain licensing activities, Congress did not include an authorization for those activities in the final NDAA bill.
The final bill also includes several policy measures impacting nuclear security and environmental cleanup efforts. Regarding NNSA’s plutonium pit production plan, the NDAA would amend the Atomic Energy Defense Act by “repeal[ing] the requirement for the NNSA to demonstrate for 90 days by 2029 the capability to produce pits at a rate sufficient to produce 80 pits per year, and replace it with a requirement to produce no fewer than 80 pits per year in 2030.”
The NDAA would prohibit any FY 2020 funds to be used to apply DOE’s interpretation of the definition of high-level waste within the State of Washington, impacting sites such as Hanford. The conference committee’s joint explanatory statement added, “The conferees note that the inclusion of the provision does not prejudice how to process high-level waste nor does it discourage the use of the Department of Energy’s interpretation of high-level waste in future years or at other locations.” This
provision originated as an amendment proposed by House Armed Services Committee Chairman Adam Smith (D-WA).
Additionally, the bill would require the Secretary of Energy to begin submitting reports to Congress that estimate the costs of meeting defense environmental cleanup milestones required by consent orders. For each defense nuclear facility with consent orders establishing cleanup milestones, the Secretary must explain the cost of meeting those milestones for the current fiscal year and estimate the cost for the upcoming four fiscal years.
ECA has closely followed how DOE and the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB) interface after DOE’s announcement of Order 140.1 in May 2018. The NDAA would establish several policies to address their interfacing. For example, the bill would require the Secretary of Energy to provide written notification of any denial of a written request for access to
information made by the Board and explain to Congress the reasons for such denials. Furthermore, the bill would require DOE “to provide to the Board prompt and unfettered access to facilities within its purview, regardless of hazard or risk category of such facilities.”
With the NDAA in the Senate’s hands now, House leaders hope to vote on a full-year energy appropriations bill on Tuesday. Since October, the federal government has been operating under the last fiscal year’s funding levels through a series of short-term stopgap funding measures.
Stay updated on the latest NDAA and energy appropriations action with ECA’s budget tracker tool.
BUDGET & APPROPRIATIONS
White House, Congress Near Spending Deal as Deadline Approaches
Wall Street Journal | 12/12/2019
Lawmakers and the White House are closing in on an agreement on how to spend nearly $1.4 trillion in government funding as the window to approve the legislation before the end of the day on Dec. 20 narrows.
Democrats and Republicans could reach the annual spending deal as soon as Thursday, according to lawmakers, aides and White House officials. The top lawmakers on the House and Senate Appropriations Committees are expected to meet Thursday morning, followed by a meeting between House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D., Calif.), Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and the leaders of the two committees.
[...] If lawmakers and the White House reach an agreement on Thursday, they will still face a tight schedule to pass each of the dozen annual spending bills before the last stopgap measure expires after Dec. 20—and many lawmakers plan to head home for the holidays. House members said they aim to bring packages of the bills to the floor on Tuesday, giving the Senate just days to process the legislation before the end of next week.
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Read about DOE's High Level Waste Interpretation
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Interested in learning more? Read the ECA report “Making Informed Decisions on DOE's Proposed High Level Waste Definition” at www.energyca.org/publications
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