House Bill Boosts 2007 Nonproliferation Funding
By Jon Fox, NTI Global Security Newswire
February 1, 2007
(For personal use only)

House lawmakers yesterday passed a fiscal 2007 spending bill that increases funding for two nuclear nonproliferation programs by more than $60 million (see GSN, Jan. 5).
Congress was able to pass only two appropriations bills as the 2006 session drew to a close, requiring a short-term continuing resolution to keep government employees paid and programs funded through Feb. 15.
The bill passed by the House yesterday will set funding levels for the remainder of this fiscal year. A number of defense nuclear nonproliferation programs receive the same funding they did in fiscal 2006 under the long-term continuing resolution, but two received sizable boosts.
The International Nuclear Material Protection and Cooperation program received a $50 million shot in the arm, jumping from $422.7 million to $472.7 million under the House resolution. The original budget request for the program in this fiscal year, which began in October, was $413.2 million.
Under the initiative, U.S. officials work with counterparts in Russia and former Soviet states to secure fissile material and nuclear weapons. Assistance includes installing monitors and helping to develop a security culture and infrastructure at sensitive nuclear sites (see related GSN story, today).
Much of funding is to be directed toward monitoring systems at transit points on the Russian border and ports to prevent nuclear smuggling.
The Global Threat Reduction Initiative also received additional support. Funded at $97 million in fiscal 2006, it received $115.5 million in the House spending plan. The fiscal 2007 budget request was $106.8 million.
The program seeks to repatriate U.S. and Russian spent reactor fuel being used in other nations, and to convert research reactors from using highly enriched uranium to more proliferation-resistant low-enriched fuel (see GSN, Dec. 18, 2006).
The additional funding was a result of a weeks-long lobbying effort on Capitol Hill, said David Culp, of the Friends Committee on Nuclear Legislation, an anti-nuclear weapons group.
The extra funds came from $500 million that had been directed toward cleanup of the Rocky Flats nuclear site in Colorado but ultimately was not needed (see GSN, Dec. 9, 2005).
“There was pretty intense lobbying for that $500 million and we succeeded in getting a piece of it,” Culp said.
The Senate is expected to take up the continuing resolution next week. The current resolution expires on Feb. 15.