The Continuing Resolution for FY13 has been approved and sent to the
President. NNSA gets its full funding for FY13, no sequester cuts. Is
this good news for the Lab? Does it mean furlough won't be necessary is
year?
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House Approves Full Funding for NNSA Nuke Work
March 21, 2013
By Chris Schneidmiller
Global Security Newswire
WASHINGTON
-- The House of Representatives on Thursday approved full funding for
nuclear weapons operations at a branch of the Energy Department in a
budget that will keep the federal government operating through the rest
of this fiscal year.
The Senate voted for the continuing
resolution legislation on Wednesday, leaving only President Obama's
signature necessary for it to become law.
National Nuclear
Security Administration operations to maintain a safe, secure and
reliable nuclear arsenal are to receive $7.6 billion in fiscal 2013,
which ends on Sept. 30. That is the amount sought by the Obama
administration.
Another $110 million would be used for "domestic
uranium enrichment research, development and demonstration" at the
agency that oversees research laboratories and other components of the
nuclear arms complex, according to the spending plan. That is $40
million less than requested by the White House.
The current
continuing resolution provides federal funding through March 27. The new
legislation would provide full-year appropriations levels for a handful
of departments, including Defense, Homeland Security and Commerce. Most
other agencies would be restricted to funding at fiscal 2012 levels,
House
lawmakers also approved $519 million though Sept. 30, 2015, for the
Pentagon's Cooperative Threat Reduction program, which aims to secure or
eliminate unconventional weapons and materials in the former Soviet
Union and beyond.
Another $1.3 billion would be directed toward Defense Department chemical weapons disposal operations.
“I’m
proud that we were able to reach across the aisle -- and across Capitol
Hill -- to produce a meaningful, bipartisan bill that funds the
government responsibly," House Appropriations Committee Chairman Hal
Rogers (R-Ky.) said in provided comments. “With the approval of this
measure, we have laid the foundation for thoughtful and responsible
consideration of appropriations bills, and can now focus our attention
on next year’s work. I encourage the President to sign this bill into
law without delay.”
20 comments:
Sequester still applies.
Separate issues. The cuts to federal budgets due to sequestration still apply. Sorry.
I don't expect the cuts coming due to sequestration to stop any time soon. It's the only "solution" left when you have a Congress that is dead-locked and dysfunctional. Both political parties are already prepping and positioning for the 2014 mid-term elections!
You'll see additional ~2.5% accumulative cuts in the defense budget year after year for some time to come. Layoffs and furloughs at the labs will be inevitable under this scenario. If not this year, then the next.
With respect to the CR & Sequestration, imo, there’re so many cat & mouse games going on within congress/Gov I can’t understand what’s really going to occur. My guess is we'll know the impact (if any) at the end of the fiscal year – perhaps.
The real impact will be felt as soon as NNSA figures out what their budget will be for this year. The $$ games going on will cover certain programs and activities and not others. It may be confusing but in the final tally the Labs will take a overall cut, maybe 3-6%. Depending on how NNSA decides to allocate the money.
March 22, 2013 at 8:20 PM
Actually under the CR for FY13, NNSA is explicitly exempt from the sequestration.
You are correct that FY14 will be a different issue.
8:20pm you are wrong. Sequestration applies to NNSA.
No furloughs at Y-12
“Sequestration is having an impact at the Y-12 nuclear weapons plant and it's going to hurt, but -- contrary to earlier projections -- the spending reductions apparently will not result in employees being furloughed.”
"We do not expect furloughs to be necessary," B&W Y-12 spokeswoman Ellen Boatner said today in response to questions.”
http://blogs.knoxnews.com/munger/2013/03/no-furloughs-at-y-12.html
LlLNL is the only lab planning on furloughs at present.
"LlLNL is the only lab planning on furloughs at present."
Parney explained why the other labs were not anticipating furlough/layoffs. They had a significant amount of carry over money from previous year(s) where LLNL did not. He pointed out that having the carry over money is not the same as having permission to use it. If NNSA tells LANL and Sandia that they can't use it to protect themselves as they anticipate, things could look uglier for them than LLNL.
I've heard a couple different things, is the furlough-like day still a mandatory day off.
Here is my best understanding of the relationship between the CR and the sequester -- For most agencies, the baseline was the 2012 actuals, but for NNSA Congress (in the continuing resolution just passed) upped that to the 2013 Obama request (which has higher numbers for nuclear weapons activities than the FY2012 actuals).
Many other agencies or programs had their baselines adjusted to soften the impact of the sequester, but like NNSA, they are still subject to it.
By the by, according to the OMB guidance, the sequester percentage for NNSA nuclear weapons activities is 7.8%. It is also 7.8% for NNSA nonproliferation programs. These two budget lines cover the vast majority of the LLNL NNSA budget, albeit with nuclear weapons activities being the lion's share.
In conclusion: The FY 2013 budget request for nuclear weapons activities as passed in the CR is 5% above the FY 2012 actual budget. Therefore, the impact of the 7.8% cut in the sequester should be mild. If things that are wild, unforeseen and major occur, it will be due to mismanagement of funds not a genuine lack of them.
Therefore, the impact of the 7.8% cut in the sequester should be mild.
Easy for Marylia to say.
Damn, that must be the first non-anonymous post on this blog ever! Marylia, the black helicopters will be arriving at your house any minute now. I suggest you chew the cyanide pill before they capture and torture you until you are "re-educated".
It was Parney in drag.
Now THERE's an image.
Now THERE's an image.
March 25, 2013 at 12:35 PM
Like the front-row at a Redskins game!
On this blog, its difficult to take any one serious when they add their real name...hmmmmthats totally un-American.
Mild cuts are when your friends get laid off, serious cut are when you get laid off.
On this blog, its difficult to take any one serious...
March 25, 2013 at 5:33 PM
"It's" not "its". "Seriously" not "serious." It's difficult to take you seriously because of your ignorance of the English language.
ALERT! The spelling bee queen has given up trying to calculate HAPC and is now roaming the various blog threads. Webster shields up, everyone!
This is cool!
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