House Panel Curbs Some of
Bush’s Nuclear Requests
(AP) |
| July
8 – Washington, D.C.: While reviewing a Federal Spending bill, the
House of Representatives Appropriations committee cut $15.5 million from
a program the Bush Administration requested to study new, smaller nuclear
weapons that could be used to destroy deeply buried bunkers. |
 |
| The
National Nuclear Security Administration (the division that would have been
responsible for their development) will still receive $8.5 billion for the
next fiscal year, which is an increase of $330 million, however the Bush
Administration’s program has been seriously hindered by the House’s
action, according to Committee members. |
| In a show
of bipartisan unity, the Appropriations subcommittee unanimously approved
the $27.1 billion measure boosting the funding for the controversial Yucca
Mountain nuclear waste dump, which will create the first permanent US nuclear
waste repository in the desert northwest of Las Vegas. This raise exceeds
the Bush Administration’s request by $174 million, and increases the
budget from last fiscal year by $308 million. A large portion of the extra
money has been set aside to develop a rail line for transporting nuclear
waste around Las Vegas, in an effort to damp down fierce political opposition
inside Nevada. |
