House Stands By Nuclear Laboratory Cuts

The U.S. House of Representative yesterday rejected efforts by a New Mexico lawmaker to restore nuclear research funds to the Los Alamos National Laboratory, the Associated Press reported (see GSN, June 7).

The House Appropriations Committee has approved major reductions to the Bush administration’s request for the fiscal 2008 energy and water spending bill.  The full House has not yet voted on the funding bill, which could cut roughly $300 million from the $2.2 billion fiscal 2008 budget for the nuclear weapons research facility.

Legislators yesterday defeated an amendment by Representative Tom Udall (D-N.M.) to restore many of those funds, citing concerns over repeated security lapses at Los Alamos.

“Given this track record, do we really believe adding another $192 million will improve security?” said Representative David Hobson (R-Ohio).  “I would argue that our national security would be improved by cutting 1,800 jobs from a facility that can’t seem to manage sensitive information” (Jennifer Talhelm, Associated Press/Las Cruces Sun-News, June 21).

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