An agreement on the fiscal year 2008 Energy and Water Appropriations Bill restores money for core weapons and science missions, and should help avoid additional worker layoffs.
New Mexico Sen. Pete Domenici said in a news release that $418 million of the nearly $600 million the House had taken out of the proposed 2008 fiscal year budget for weapons activities at the three nuclear weapons labs has been restored. Negotiators on the bill also outlined a new advanced computing push at Sandia and Oak Ridge national laboratories, while funding the Roadrunner supercomputing project at Los Alamos.
Domenici is ranking member of the Senate Energy and Water Development Appropriations Subcommittee.
"We've been to the brink, and we've backed away to come up with a budget that will allow our national laboratories to fulfill their missions. This budget isn't by any means a bed of roses for the labs. It makes tough choices and struggles to preserve important programs, such as the weapons program, the Office of Science and nuclear energy," Domenici said. "We have what amounts to a good news-bad news budget that is vastly preferable to the potentially devastating cuts that could have occurred.
"Restoring the cuts proposed by the House to the weapons program means the labs should be able to carry out their national security missions and maintain their workforces. This bill will not reverse current plans to lay off 500-750 workers at Los Alamos, but it should help to avoid additional and future layoffs," he said.
Read the full news release.
Read a statement from New Mexico Sen. Jeff Bingaman
Read a statement from New Mexico Rep. Tom Udall.
