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Defense bill would curb Cabinet control of nuclear agency

By MATTHEW DALY The White House and En- the safety and security of questions about the long- tionship.” A Senate aide fa-
Associated Press ergy Secretary Rick Perry all Americans to remove term consequences,” Sens. miliar with the reorganiza-
WASHINGTON (AP) — The strongly oppose the reor- this provision from the bill Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, tion plan contended it was
agency that supervises the ganization, saying it would and continue NNSA to be and Maria Cantwell, D- “a straight-up power grab”
nation’s nuclear weapons by staffers at the nuclear
stockpile would essentially agency and the Senate
lose direct Cabinet over- Armed Services Commit-
sight under legislation that tee. Agency staffers, frus-
Congress is negotiating. trated by delays that oc-
The little-noticed provision cur as the Energy Depart-
in a defense policy bill is ment’s general counsel
opposed by the Trump ad- and other officials review
ministration and senior law- their work, took their case
makers from both parties, to Senate committee staff-
but efforts to scrap it have ers, according to the aide,
not overcome resistance who spoke on condition of
from staffers on the Senate anonymity in order to dis-
Armed Services Commit- cuss internal deliberations.
tee. The committee chairman,
At issue in the Senate-ap- Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz.,
proved bill is whether the has been away from the
National Nuclear Security Capitol since December as
Administration remains un- he fights brain cancer. Sen.
der the direct control of the James Inhofe, R-Okla., has
Energy Department, where led the committee in Mc-
it’s been since its creation Cain’s absence but has not
in 2000. played a role in the nuclear
The bill would empower agency dispute.
that agency to act nearly This Aug. 1, 2007, file photo, shows construction crews are seen as they work on early stages of In its staff-written report, the
on its own, freed from what a new mixed oxide fuel, or MOX fabrication facility at the Savannah River nuclear complex near committee said the pro-
a report by the Senate Aiken, S.C. posal was not “an indict-
committee calls a “flawed Associated Press ment of the current Energy
DOE organizational pro- secretary” but rather an ef-
cess” that has led to “weak usurp Perry’s authority to represented by a Cabinet- Wash., said in a letter to fort to “address a number
accountability ... insuffi- set policy in crucial areas level official, allowing DOE the Senate Armed Services of structural impediments”
cient program and budget and make the nuclear and NNSA’s complemen- Committee. that have “damaged the
expertise and poor con- agency’s general counsel tary relationship to remain Murkowski and Cantwell NNSA’s ability to carry out
tract management.” independent of the Energy strong,” Hynes said. supported Sen. Ted Cruz, its mission.”
That report cites a series of Department’s legal divi- The NNSA said in a state- R-Texas, as he tried unsuc- A committee spokeswom-
delays and cost overruns sion.The White House said ment that while intended cessfully to remove the an declined to comment,
at the agency, including in a statement that the bill to improve efficiencies, provision during Senate de- as did representatives for
a contentious project to would block the energy “the changes put forward bate on the defense bill last Inhofe and Rhode Island
reprocess weapons-grade secretary from directing by the Senate committee month. A later Cruz effort Sen. Jack Reed, the com-
plutonium and uranium into civil and national security would significantly limit the also failed on procedural mittee’s top Democrat.
fuel for commercial reac- functions at the agency secretary’s ability to fulfill grounds. Criticism of the Spokesmen for leaders of
tors. The cost of the Mixed and “degrade” the secre- his nuclear security missions nuclear agency isn’t new. the House Armed Service
Oxide Fuel Fabrication Fa- tary’s ability to protect the and ... lead to unneces- A congressional commis- Committee also declined
cility in South Carolina has health, safety and security sary duplication of effort at sion led by a former Army to comment.
ballooned from $1.4 billion of employees and the pub- NNSA for work already be- undersecretary and retired Perry told Congress this
in 2004 to more than $17 lic. A Perry spokeswoman, ing carried out by DOE.” Navy admiral concluded year that there have been
billion and completion is Shaylyn Hynes, called the The leaders of the Senate in 2014 that it had failed “historically questionable
decades away. The Energy plan “misguided” and said Energy and Natural Re- in its mission and relied too expenditures of dollars” on
Department has moved to it would “weaken national sources Committee said heavily on private contrac- the MOX project and other
cancel the project, but it security efforts by limiting the plan was “a major step tors that had turned it into a NNSA contracts, but said
remains open — at a cost DOE’s critical role in man- backward.” massive jobs program with officials were working to
of $1.2 million a day — aging America’s nuclear “To reduce the secretary’s duplicative functions and ensure taxpayers “are get-
amid a legal challenge by weapons capabilities.” authority in such a sweep- a “dysfunctional manage- ting a good return on our
the state of South Carolina. “It is in the best interest of ing way .... raises serious ment and operations rela- investment.”q