HANFORD: Murray Secures Wins for Hanford in Annual Spending Bill

(Washington, D.C.) – Late yesterday, a bipartisan, bicameral group of Appropriations Committee leaders released an omnibus Appropriations bill which includes several significant wins for Washington state secured by U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), including strong funding for the Hanford cleanup effort. In November of 2013, DOE authorized up to 350 layoffs that were a direct result of budget constraints, including sequestration cuts. Due to the budget deal, forced layoffs have not occurred and these funding levels could prevent or lessen negative impacts at Hanford.

“I fought hard to secure significant funding for cleanup work at Hanford and am pleased that this bill will roll back many of the devastating cuts from sequestration and support the incredible workforce we have in the Tri-Cities,” said Senator Murray.  “There’s more work to be done to keep the Hanford cleanup project moving forward, but the funding secured in this bill is a critical ‘win’ for Hanford and our entire state.”

A list of Hanford funding secured by Senator Murray is below:

• $941 million for Richland Operations:

  • Central Plateau remediation — $512.665 million
  • River Corridor and other cleanup operations — $408.634 million, an increase of $15 million over the President’s budget request
  • Richland community & regulatory support– $19.701 million, an increase of $5 million over the President’s budget request
    

• $1.2 billion for the Office of River Protection:

  • Waste Treatment Plant — $690 million
  • Tank Farm Activities — $520.216 million
    

• Fast Flux Test Reactor Facility (WA) — $2.545 million

  • In November of 2013, DOE authorized up to 350 layoffs that were a direct result of budget constraints, including sequestration cuts. Due to the budget deal, forced layoffs have not occurred and these funding levels could prevent or lessen negative impacts at Hanford.

In December, Senator Murray, as Chair of the Senate Budget Committee, reached a landmark budget deal with U.S. House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-WI) that rolled back significant cuts from sequestration and provided a critical framework for the spending bill released yesterday by the Appropriations Committee leaders.  Senator Murray, also a senior member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, was able to work with her colleagues to ensure several Washington state priorities were included in the omnibus package.  In order to become law, the House and Senate must each pass the omnibus bill, and it then must be signed by the President.  

Under cuts mandated by sequestration in the Budget Control Act, the government’s discretionary spending limit for FY 13 was $968 billion.  Under the budget agreement reached by Senator Murray and Rep. Ryan, the discretionary spending limit for this FY14 omnibus bill is $1.012 trillion. If not for the budget agreement, which rolled back cuts from sequestration, the FY14 budget topline would have been $967 billion.  The Bipartisan Budget Act of 2013 maintains defense spending at roughly current levels and increases non-defense discretionary spending significantly by replacing almost two-thirds of this year’s cuts.