Dec 12, 2007

Feud May Trigger Lab Cuts

ABQ Journal
Wednesday, December 12, 2007

Feud May Trigger Lab Cuts

By Michael Coleman And John Fleck
Copyright © 2007 Albuquerque Journal; Journal Staff Writers

WASHINGTON— New Mexico's nuclear laboratory budgets remained in limbo Tuesday as congressional leaders haggled over a massive federal spending bill and Sen. Pete Domenici warned that nuclear programs could take a direct hit.

Democrats pulled their $520 billion spending proposal off the table late Monday after President Bush's budget director warned of a veto. Democratic leaders, as well as some House and Senate Republicans, are at odds with the White House over domestic spending and war funding.

The Democratic version contained $11 billion more than President Bush had requested for domestic spending, but half of what Democrats initially asked for. Contained in that spending blueprint is $6.35 billion for the U.S. nuclear weapons program, which funds Los Alamos and Sandia national laboratories.

Rep. David Obey, D-Wis., chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, on Monday proposed stripping the bill of roughly $9.5 million in so-called "earmarks," or regional pet projects favored by lawmakers, as well as carving out all spending on wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Obey has not specifically suggested trimming nuclear spending, but his spokeswoman ruled nothing out Tuesday.

"If we are forced to go to the president's (spending) levels then there will be serious cuts to valuable programs across the board," Kirsten Brost told the Journal on Tuesday.

Domenici, the top Republican on the Senate subcommittee that secures money for the labs, said it stands to reason that nuclear programs, which include funding for the labs, would see spending cuts.

Domenici said the reductions likely would be spread across the nuclear weapons budgets as opposed to focused on one or two programs.

If the cuts needed to meet the president's target are made across the board, it would require cutting an additional $180 million from nuclear weapons programs.

"It's hard (to decide on specific programs); it's awful," Domenici told the Journal. "We'll probably just take a trim off of everything."

Domenici said he'll do his best to prevent that from happening.

"We'll just have to stand our ground," Domenici said. "If we could put them in our shoes and have them see what we're trying to do, they might not want to make these nuclear laboratories so weak."

Rep. Tom Udall, D-N.M., said House leaders have given him assurances that funding for Los Alamos, which is in his district, will be "adequate."

"I continue to believe those assurances," Udall said in a statement.

Steve Ellis, vice president of Taxpayers for Common Sense, a government watchdog group that closely monitors federal spending, said it is possible— even likely— that House Democratic leaders will look to cut nuclear programs since the full House has already voted to slash their budgets.

Domenici and Senate negotiators successfully lobbied earlier this year to replace much of the House cuts to the National Nuclear Security Administration.

"The House Energy and Water Subcommittee has been skeptical of that (nuclear spending), so I would say they might target it," Ellis said.

Domenici said a proposed energy and water spending agreement contained in the spending bill Bush has threatened to veto was a good compromise.

That $6.35 billion included in the bill for the nuclear weapons program would have been $70 million above this year's spending level, according to an analysis provided by Domenici's staff.

"We think we had a very good bill for New Mexico, considering what we started with," Domenici said.

28 comments:

Anonymous said...

"...roughly $9.5 million in so-called "earmarks,"..."

That's 9.5 billion, no?

Anonymous said...

If the cuts needed to meet the president's target are made across the board, it would require cutting an additional $180 million from nuclear weapons programs.

It's hard (to decide on specific programs); it's awful," Domenici told the Journal. "We'll probably just take a trim off of everything."

What's the base that he's talking about for cutting the "additional $180 million"?


Domenici said a proposed energy and water spending agreement contained in the spending bill Bush has threatened to veto was a good compromise.

That $6.35 billion included in the bill for the nuclear weapons program would have been $70 million above this year's spending level, according to an analysis provided by Domenici's staff.

"We think we had a very good bill for New Mexico, considering what we started with," Domenici said.

Assuming this gets signed, it sounds like $70 million more than FY06.


So assuming the former, the net change from FY06 is +$70 - $180 = -$110?

Anonymous said...

You are ignoring part of what Domenici said. 'was a good compromise' and "we had a very good bill". Note how he uses the past tense. You might as well assume $70 million falls out of the sky.

The party is over.

Anonymous said...

Yes, 7:36, 9.5B, of course. P&TB published the Washington Post version yesterday. The relevant paragraph and the following paragraph are pasted below. (The Post's writer should be advised that the shaved comment is not viewed as cute by at least one reader. But one would have to be impossibly saintly to be a journalist inside the beltway and not possess greater than normal cynicism.)

"Obey's proposal would ax about 9,500 home-district and home-state projects worth a total of $9.5 billion, according to Keith Ashdown, vice president of Taxpayers for Common Sense, a budget watchdog group. Republicans inserted about 40 percent of those projects. Not all of that money could be eliminated, however. The budget of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is parceled out as home-district projects, and Congress has no intention of eliminating the Army Corps.

Obey would not specify where the remaining billions would come from to reach Bush's bottom line, beyond saying the money would be shaved from the president's priorities. One possibility would be funding for abstinence education."

Anonymous said...

It appears that the nuclear weapons budget
is a PAWN to be used in a political
squabble.

Do the Democrats not realize that this
budget item is for the benefit of the
Nation and its national security?

Why has something vital to the security
of the Nation turned into something to
"get back" at Bush with?

Are the Democrats void of concern for
this great Nation?

Anonymous said...

Is it true that Obey was sighted with an ax at NSSB looking for something to shave?

Anonymous said...

9:26,

I guess you don't realize how foolish you sound in your attempts to characterize the nuke weapons program as being "for the benefit of the Nation and its national security," so let me assure you that you do sound foolish.

We already have some 20,000 nuclear weapons. We don't need two weapons design labs any more for national security, or any other reason. Likewise, we don't need new pit fabrication plants.

What we really do need is a cut in the nuclear weapons program.

Anonymous said...

Instead of saying that he was assured that funding would be "adequate," Udall should have said that he was assured that funding would be, "substancially equivalent."

Anonymous said...

9:36

Evidently YOU are the one that doesn't
understand! First we DO NEED 2 weapons
labs. That question has been studied by
august scientific panels such as the
National Academy of Sciences, the JASONS..
and the answer has ALWAYS been the same.
The two laboratories ARE needed to check
each other on a vital national mission.

You also don't understand that weapons
AGE - just like your car or an airliner.
You wouldn't fly on an airliner that had
not recently been checked by a mechanic
just because Boeing certified it as
safe 20 years ago when it was built!!

No - I'll take the INFORMED opinions of
the National Academies and the JASONS
over some nameless blogger.

Anonymous said...

You sound HYSTERICAL. You
should CALM DOWN.

No one listens to an
HYSTERICAL anonymous
blogger.

Also, your sentences are
FORMATTED funny.

Anonymous said...

Does anyone believe the stockpile would ever not be certified?

Anonymous said...

10:07

Do you only address form rather than
substance of the posts to which you
respond?

Anonymous said...

10:19

One can only look to the past for that
answer. There have been issues in the
stockpile in the past - and they were
resolved by nuclear testing.

We don't want to have to test the weapons
to answer those questions.

Suppose you were a nuclear designer, and
a question arose as to reliability or
safety of the weapon you designed.
Additionally, suppose you can't test the
weapon to discover the true answer.

Could you, in good conscience; just
certify the weapon anyway on the
grounds that it has always been
certified?

Would you do your Nation a disservice
as great as that?

Anonymous said...

No, 10:20.

However I do require content in a post before I can respond to it. Hysterical ranting really doesn't qualify as "content".

Anonymous said...

10:32,

OK - so you don't like the words I
capitalized for emphasis.

I won't capitalize anymore.

Now - just imagine those caps to be
lower case. I asked some very pertinent
questions - not a rant.

Demonstrate that you have some "lead in
your pencil" and try to answer them.

Anonymous said...

Yet the stockpile continues to be certified without testing. The possible replacements may rely on aging pits, which were part of the justification for a new warhead in the first place. If this isn't grasping at straws to keep the lights on and the doors open, then what the heck is going on?

Anonymous said...

The possible replacements may rely on aging pits, which were part of the justification for a new warhead in the first place.
========================================
11:08,

Evidently you have "fallen for" the the
first three myths about plutonium aging
cited in this DOE release:

http://www.nnsa.doe.gov/docs/factsheets/2006/NA-06-FS-08A.pdf

Anonymous said...

10:46,

Tell you what, old-timer. You expressed your views the best way you know how, and I've disagreed with them. How about if we just kick back and let Darwin decide who was correct.

Anonymous said...

So, why is a raven like a writing desk?

Gussie Fink-Nottle said...

I give up. Why?

-Gus

Anonymous said...

I see that the URL from my 11:26 post
has been truncated.

See the NNSA Newsroom website at:

http://www.nnsa.doe.gov/newsroom.htm

Under Fact Sheets in 2nd column dated
December 2006 is a fact sheet entitled:

"Myth vs. Fact: The Truth about
Plutonium Aging"

Anonymous said...

So, why is a raven like a writing desk?
========================================

"I don't know either"

-The Mad Hatter from
"Alice in Wonderland"

Anonymous said...

Rep. Tom Udall, D-N.M., said House leaders have given him assurances that funding for Los Alamos, which is in his district, will be "adequate."

"I continue to believe those assurances," Udall said in a statement.

----------------
What a bunch of total bull crap!

Udall has helped to destroy hundreds, and ultimately, perhaps thousands of high-paying jobs in his own district through his idiotic actions. And now this man wants to become our next US Senator?

It is going to be payback time for Udall at the polls come November. Anyone laid off with spare time on their hands should put that time to good use working against the Udall campaign.

Anonymous said...

People,

Be careful of the Bear-Baiting posts that seem like they come out of Fanta Se.

Anonymous said...

Gee. Back in 45 we successfully detonated two weapons over Japan. One had been "tested" once. The other had never been tested. They both worked without the benefit of supercomputer simulations nor 50 years of testing.It's astonishing to read that some of you feel we need to continue to test to insure the the reliability of the stockpile for the "safety of this great nation".

What's wrong, afraid the yield will be less that optimum?

Anonymous said...

Well, the devices dropped on Japan during WWII were quite simple. The devices today are "somewhat" more complex. Believe it or not, the increased complexity does make a difference.

Anonymous said...

"Well, the devices dropped on Japan during WWII were quite simple. The devices today are "somewhat" more complex. Believe it or not, the increased complexity does make a difference."

1)Proof that anyone can build one

and...

2) Simpler is better (cheaper)

Anonymous said...

2) Simpler is better (cheaper)
==================================
8:58,

You just made the case for going forward
with RRW-1 and RRW-2.