House passes $984B funding bill, averts government shutdown
Erik Wasson and Pete Kasperowicz, The Hill
March 21, 2013

 

The House on Thursday averted a looming government shutdown by approving legislation that will keep the government funded through the end of the fiscal year.

 

The $984 billion spending bill passed by a vote of 318 to 109.

The bill cleared the Senate on Wednesday on a vote of 73 to 26 and now heads to President Obama's desk.

 

"Passing this measure allows us to keep our focus where it belongs: replacing the president's sequester with smarter cuts that help balance the budget, fixing our broken tax code to create jobs and increase wages, protecting priorities like Medicare, and expanding opportunity for all Americans," Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) said.

 

The legislation reflects a carefully coordinated compromise between appropriators in the House and Senate and their leaders, all of whom wanted to prevent a government shutdown. The bill currently providing funding for the government would have expired on March 28.

 

"This legislation provides funding for essential federal programs and services, it maintains our national security, and takes a potential government shutdown off the table," Appropriations Committee Chairman Hal Rogers (R-Ky.) said.

 

Majorities in both parties favored the bill, though it was more popular with Republicans than Democrats. The GOP vote was 203-27, with two members not voting, while the Democratic vote was 115-82, with three members not voting.

 

Committee members were given latitude by House GOP leaders to work out a deal, so long as it did not reverse the $85 billion in sequestration cuts that went into effect on March 1.

 

Republicans and Democrats are still at loggerheads over how to replace those cuts, with the White House insisting that new tax revenue should be included and the GOP arguing that no new taxes should replace the spending cuts.

 

The government-funding measure, which lasts through Sept. 30, contains full, detailed appropriations bills covering the departments of Defense; Commerce; Justice; Veterans Affairs; Agriculture and Homeland Security, as well as for science agencies like NASA and military construction activities.

 

The rest of the federal government will operate on autopilot, and the bill does not include new funding to implement President Obama's healthcare and financial reform laws.

 

Despite this, the bill got widespread support from Democrats, some of whom said they wanted to avoid a shutdown.

 

"Like any compromise, this measure is far from perfect," said Appropriations Committee ranking member Nita Lowey (D-N.Y.), who voted for the bill. "Nevertheless, a government shutdown could wreak havoc on our already fragile economic recovery and must be prevented."

 

Only two House appropriations subcommittee chairmen voted against the spending bill: Rep. Jack Kingston (R-Ga.), the labor, health chairman who may run for Senate against naysayer Rep. Paul Broun (R-Ga.), and Rep. Mike Simpson (R-Idaho), the interior, environment chairman.

 

Some Democrats protested the bill during debate. Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.) said she opposes it because it maintains the sequester, and even Lowey said the sequester is still a problem.

 

"I remain deeply dissatisfied that sequestration is not addressed, and will, and will slash the very priorities I believe all of us came here to fulfill," Lowey said. "These $68 billion in detrimental cuts will diminish services Americans depend on, job growth and our overall economy."

 

The bill moves some money around within agency budgets to try to help them better deal with sequestration.

 

The original House bill ensured the Defense Department's operations budget received $11 billion more to ensure the Pentagon remains battle-ready.

 

Senate Appropriations Committee Chairwoman Barbara Mikulski (D-Md.) and ranking member Richard Shelby (R-Ala.) negotiated dozens of smaller changes to the measure, none of which were objectionable to House GOP leaders.

 

The full Senate also adopted some amendments shifting money around, including one by Sen. Mark Pryor (D-Ark.) and Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) to prevent furloughs of meat inspectors.

 

It rejected others, like one by Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) to keep White House tours running, and never considered others, such as one by Sen. Jerry Moran (R-Kan.) to keep air traffic control towers open.

 

The Transportation Department opposed that amendment without explanation, Moran said. He alleged that the White House wants to keep the pain of sequestration in place to get its way on taxes.

 

Senate, House energy leaders talk nuclear waste, hydropower, efficiency
Zack Colman, The Hill
March 20, 2013

 

Senate and House energy leaders met Tuesday to discuss bills that have chance of passing both chambers, Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee ranking member Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) told reporters Wednesday.

 

"There's some promise out there right now on energy issues," Murkowski said. "I think there are clearly issues where we can focus as a congressional body."

 

Murkowski said the lawmakers agreed measures on energy efficiency, hydropower and nuclear waste management could conceivably become law this session.

 

The meeting continues a trend of confabs between Murkowski, Senate Energy Chairman Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), House Energy and Commerce Chairman Fred Upton (R-Mich.) and Energy and Power Subcommittee Chairman Rep. Ed Whitfield (R-Ky.). Rep. Peter Welch (D-Vt.) also joined for Tuesday's meeting, Murkowski said.

The issues Murkowski outlined already have some movement.

 

She expressed optimism about getting some nuclear waste items through Congress, despite differences between chambers on what to do about the Yucca Mountain repository.

 

House Republicans have insisted any nuclear waste bill outlines the Nevada site as the nation's long-term waste storage destination, as outlined in a 1982 law. President Obama, with the backing of Yucca opponent Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), pulled the plug on Yucca in 2010.

 

Murkowski said recent news of leaking storage containers at the Hanford nuclear reservation in Washington might have ignited some willingness to move on nuclear waste without a deal on Yucca.

 

"That can't sit and wait until there's a Yucca resolution. I think we recognize there are things that we can do and should do," Murkowski said, noting Wyden was working on a draft bill.

 

Murkowski also said energy efficiency legislation is "ripe" for the picking. Welch's involvement in Tuesday's meeting might speak to that, as the Vermont Democrat is a staunch advocate for efficiency.

 

Still, there is some disagreement on what form such legislation would take.

 

Democrats generally would want to encourage energy efficiency through tax credits, standards and other measures. But Republicans -- especially in the House -- are wary of mandates and anything that could widen the federal deficit.

 

Of the three policy areas mentioned, Murkowski said hydropower legislation had the best prospects.

 

The House already unanimously passed a hydropower bill that would look into easing licensing requirements at some non-powered dams and for hydro-based energy storage. It also would remove some regulations for small hydro projects.

 

The Senate has a similar version in queue, leading Murkowski to believe the effort "may very well be the first energy bill that's enacted this year."

 

White House to create new position to oversee nuclear weapons reduction
Josh Rogin, Foreign Policy
March 19, 2013

 

The National Security Staff's Senior Director for Europe Liz Sherwood-Randall will take up a newly created senior White House post next month, called the White House coordinator for defense policy, countering weapons of mass destruction, and arms control, The Cable has learned.

 

Randall will take over all the main responsibilities of the White House's former "WMD Czar" Gary Samore, who left government late last year for a position at Harvard University. But the newly created job will add defense policy to Samore's former portfolio in a move that White House officials say is meant to recognize and better coordinate the relationship between these various issues. The job is also meant to help galvanize a renewed second-term administration push to implement the Prague agenda on nuclear weapons reductions that President Barack Obama announced in 2009.

 

"As one of the president's closest advisors for the past four years, Liz's leadership and advice have been instrumental as we have successfully strengthened our alliances and partnerships across Europe, helped to revitalize NATO, and worked with Europe to advance the president's global agenda," National Security Advisor Tom Donilon said in a statement to be released Tuesday, obtained in advance by The Cable. "Liz brings deep expertise and a track record of accomplishment in defense issues and in proliferation prevention. The president will look to her to bring significant energy and capability to his second term as we pursue the ambitious goals he set forth in his Prague speech in 2009 and prepare our military to defend the American people and our allies against the threats we face today and in the future."

 

Sherwood-Randall will become one of only three senior "coordinators" inside the NSS. Former Assistant Secretary of State for Europe Phil Gordon began March 11 as the White House coordinator for Middle East, North Africa, and the Gulf region. Michael Daniel is the White House cybersecurity coordinator.

 

In this new position, Sherwood-Randall will work closely with acting senior director for defense policy and strategy Lt. Col. Ron Clark (USMC), senior director for WMD terrorism and threat reduction Laura Holgate, and senior director for arms control and nonproliferation Lynn Rusten. The White House is now working on finding a replacement for Sherwood-Randall as senior director for Europe. State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland is expected to be nominated to replace Gordon at State.

 

Sherwood-Randall worked at the Pentagon during the first term of the Clinton administration as deputy assistant secretary of defense for Russia, Ukraine, and Eurasia and also served as chief foreign affairs and defense policy advisor to then Sen. Joseph Biden. Former Defense Secretary Bill Perry, Sherwood-Randall's mentor, praised the White House's decision to promote her in an interview with The Cable.

 

"Liz has a unique background and experience in all of those fields. I can't think of anybody else who has the same background," Perry said, noting that Sherwood-Randall is a Russian speaker and was a key staffer to him when he worked to remove nuclear weapons from the former Soviet states of Ukraine, Kazakhstan, and Belarus.

 

Sherwood-Randall and Deputy Defense Secretary Ash Carter were Perry's two key aides during that effort, Perry said. In fact, when Perry met with Russian Defense Minister Pavel Grachev to take a photo commemorating the departure of the last nuclear weapon from Ukraine, Grachev insisted Sherwood-Randall be in the picture.

 

"Wait a minute, bring Liz in here. She's the one who made this happen," Grachev said, according to Perry.

 

Perry said combining defense policy with arms control and WMD issues makes sense, as long as you have someone who has expertise in all of those areas.

 

"There's a lot of synergism. The problem is that you usually can't find someone with background in all those areas. If you have someone who has all of the background in those three areas, then it's a good idea to combine them," he said.

 

NSS Spokeswoman Caitlin Hayden told The Cable that the new position is meant to add senior level attention to the mission of aligning nuclear policy with defense strategy across the government.

 

"In the first term, the President laid out an ambitious nonproliferation and nuclear agenda in Prague, and last year he issued Defense Strategic Guidance that aims to ensure our military is postured appropriately around the world and has the capabilities to address the challenges we face in the future," she said. "Appointing Liz to this position will bring serious energy and experience to these two interconnected strategic priorities in the second term. She'll be able to rely on the relationships she's forged in the interagency and in Europe over the past few years, and on her relationship with the president."

 

Sherwood-Randall begins her new job April 8.

 

Official: Obama to seek Senate action on Nuclear Test-Ban Treaty
Julian Pecquet, The Hill
March 20, 2013

 

Getting Congress to ratify the Nuclear Test-Ban Treaty is a "top priority" for President Obama's second term, the administration's top arms control negotiator said Wednesday.

 

The remarks by Acting Under Secretary for Arms Control and International Security Rose Gottemoeller are the strongest signal to date that the administration plans to launch a lobbying blitz on Capitol Hill like it did to secure passage of the New START treaty with Russia in 2010. Then-President Clinton signed the treaty in 1996, but it has lingered in the Senate since then.

 

"As we look towards ratification of this Treaty, we acknowledge that the process will not be easy," Gottemoeller told the Geneva Center for Security Policy in Switzerland. "That said, the New START ratification process helped to reinvigorate interest in the topic of nuclear weapons and arms control on Capitol Hill. I am optimistic that interest will continue as we engage with members and staff on the [Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty]."

 

Obama made ratification one of his four denuclearization priorities in his 2009 Prague speech, whose fourth anniversary is next month. He has yet to formally ask for Congress to act, however.

 

Gottemoeller's remarks come as the nuclear crises in North Korea and Iran are creating renewed calls for the United States to take a leading on denuclearization. Former President Reagan's secretary of State, George Shultz, urged ratification of the treaty this month, saying things have changed since the Senate voted down the treaty in 1999.

 

"It's now not just an idea that we can detect tests," Shultz said this month at a Capitol Hill event organized by the Partnership for a Secure America. "There is a network that has been built up now and it has been demonstrated that we can detect all, even small tests."

 

He also dismissed concerns that formalizing the ban could harm America's ability to develop new weapons. The United States has observed a moratorium on nuclear tests since 1992.

 

"I find it hard to see how we would justify going and producing a new nuclear weapon," Shultz said. "We have quite an arsenal right now."

 

Nuclear regulators under fire for delay of post-Fukushima safety requirement
Ben Goad, The Hill
March 20, 2013

 

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is facing blowback for its decision to delay a key but expensive safety rule proposed in the aftermath of the 2011 Fukushima meltdown.

 

The five-member commission voted this week to postpone consideration of regulations requiring new vent filter systems on 31 U.S. nuclear reactors that are similar in design to the Japanese power plant where the accident took place.

 

The NRC instead voted to give its staff a year to produce a "technical evaluation," while also gathering additional public input on the proposal. The commission directed its staff to weigh the vents against "a more performance-based approach using existing systems to achieve a similar reduction in radioactive release during an accident."

 

The vents, designed to reduce radioactive releases during an emergency, were among a list of measures proposed by the commission's staff following Fukushima. The commission said a final decision would be incorporated into a rule to be finalized by March 2017.

 

Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.), chairman of the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works, did not approve of the decision.

 

"The Nuclear Regulatory Commission should never cut corners when it comes to safety, especially after Fukushima," Boxer said. "We should accept the recommendations of safety experts and not just accept a partial fix."

 

Congressional Republicans and industry groups, including the Nuclear Energy Institute (NEI), oppose the measure, saying it is unnecessary. NEI has proposed taking a case-by-case approach to determine whether the filters should be required.

 

The industry has said venting systems could cost as much as $45 million apiece to implement.

 

Proponents, meanwhile, argue that the filters would provide a layer of safety to the nation's reactors, and blasted the commission's decision.

 

"This is fundamentally a Fukushima lesson unlearned," said Paul Gunter, director of Reactor Oversight Project for Beyond Nuclear, a Takoma Park-based group that opposes nuclear power and weapons. "We all watched the Fukushima accident in horror as Japanese operators were unable to manage one containment failure after another."

 

Yucca Mountain replacement facility in northern Minnesota is an opportunity worth our consideration
Rolf Westgard, GrandRapidsMN.com
March 19, 2013

 

Several years ago there was a report that a driller had struck oil in southwestern Minnesota. Minnesota's State Geologist responded simply, "Whose pipeline did they hit?" He knew that oil is rarely found in

lands where basement rock is close to the surface, areas known in geology as shields. Minnesota is situated on the southern edge of the Canadian Shield. Shields have relatively few layers of sedimentary rocks like shale from which came most of the earth's oil and gas deposits. To our west, the basement rock dips down to form the Williston Basin which includes the western Dakotas, eastern Montana, and Saskatchewan. That basin's deep sedimentary layers contain its large reservoir of fossil fuels.

 

As if to compensate for our lack of oil riches, nature provided Minnesota with substantial and useful mineral deposits, especially the world class iron ore reservoir on the Iron Range. Most of that ore is gone, having supplied the steel that framed many of America's buildings and machines.

 

But in a band meandering from southwest to northeast, adjacent to the ancient Archean granite of Minnesota's Iron Range, lie large deposits of the precious platinum group metals (PGMs) together with nickel, copper, gold, and silver. Many of these minerals contain sulfur compounds, and their exploitation is waiting more analysis of potential mining hazard to adjacent ground waters.

 

Minnesota is well endowed with another mineral, not precious, but widely used for buildings, bridges, paving, and countertops - granite, a tough impermeable combination of silicon and feldspar. There is another potential use for granite, encapsulating nuclear waste. Thanks to some rigid and technically ignorant Nevada politicians, and our nation's annual need to store thousands of tons of spent nuclear fuel, our granite could become a multi-billion dollar industry in northern Minnesota.

 

One tenth of a cent per kilowatt hour(kwh) generated by our 104 nuclear power reactors is placed in a fund to provide geologic storage of the fuel waste generated by those reactors. This material is currently stored in water pools and in steel and concrete casks at our reactor sites, awaiting transfer to geologic storage.

 

The storage fund now exceeds $25 billion, a part of it already spent for the $10 billion+ needed to build the long planned storage facility in Nevada's Yucca Mountain Ridge. Now pressure from Nevada officials has caused President Obama to cancel the project and begin its dismantling.

 

Sandia National Laboratories was commissioned to study America's geology for an alternate site. Sandia's newly released report notes that granite's properties as a chemically and physically stable rock, with low permeability, would "strongly inhibit" radiation from reaching the outside environment if waste canisters leaked. The National Academy of Sciences has also concluded that "geologic disposal remains the only scientifically and technically credible long-term solution available to meet safety needs."

 

Three of the twelve promising U.S. granite sites identified in the Sandia report are in northern Minnesota. The Minnesota sites are especially effective because of low water content and our lack of seismic activity. The other good site is in Vermont's granite, but Vermont officials have already vetoed the idea, stating that "it should be placed in the middle of nowhere."

 

The concerns in Nevada and Vermont are apparently the result of radiation fear.

 

The average U.S. resident receives approximately 300 annual millirems(mrems) of radiation from natural sources like radon, cosmic rays, airline flights, and eating foods like bananas and nuts which contain potassium. This radiation has occurred since humans have been on earth, and it doesn't hurt us, or humans would not exist. Persons who work in industries with higher radiation risk are allowed 5 rems/year, or 15 times the normal dose.

 

The individual-protection standard for geologic storage facilities sets an overall additional dose limit of 15 millirems per year forresidents living in the vicinity of Yucca Mountain during and up to 10,000 years after the repository closes. Fifteen mrems is about equal to the dose received from two round trip domestic airline flights. After 10,000 years through the period of geologic stability (out to 1 million years) the individual-protection standard is set at 100 mrem/yr, a very safe level.

 

Opening a Yucca Mountain replacement facility in northern Minnesota is a multi billion dollar business opportunity with no significant risks to Minnesota's people and environment. It's an opportunity worth our consideration.

 

Rolf Westgard is a professional member, Geological Society of America and is guest faculty for the University of Minnesota Lifelong Learning program. His new class is "America's Climate and Energy Future; the next 25 years."