Nuclear Waste Policy Amendments Act of 2017

Floor Speech

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Mr. WOMACK. Mr. Chair, today, my colleagues and I will vote on H.R. 3053, the Nuclear Waste Policy Amendments Act of 2018. H.R. 3053 provides practical reforms to ensure that the federal government fulfills its legal obligation to dispose of nuclear waste currently present in 121 communities across 39 states. The federal government is 20 years behind in implementing this disposal program. As a result, current litigation costs have totaled more than $6 billion--mounting to nearly $800 million a year and approximately $34 billion in future liabilities. I am proud to support this legislation, and I ask my colleagues to vote for H.R. 3053.

H.R. 3053 reforms the program's broken financing mechanism. The Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982 established the Nuclear Waste Fund financed through the collection of fee receipts paid by nuclear utilities and ratepayers. However, under current scorekeeping, these receipts are credited as offsetting mandatory receipts rather than discretionary appropriations in the federal budget. Consequently, the program cannot be adequately funded because the collected fees are not credited toward discretionary appropriations for future program expenditures.

Addressing the budgetary classification of these fees prior to the Department of Energy resuming their collection is a top priority. In order for this program to operate as intended, the collection of these fees must be classified as discretionary spending. H.R. 3053 accomplishes this by offsetting future spending for nuclear waste management as discretionary spending and ensuring long-term funding for the program. The circumstances of the Nuclear Waste Fund are unique due to the delay in implementation of the program and the resulting litigation. As a result, both the fee collections and the program's subsequent spending need equivalent budgetary classifications.

The scorekeeping treatment in the bill should not be viewed as a precedent for future legislative activity in other, unrelated programs.

We are 20 years behind fulfilling this program's promise. We owe it to the taxpayer, ratepayer, and nuclear industry to pass H.R. 3053 and uphold our legal and contractual obligations to collect nuclear waste. I support the Nuclear Waste Policy Amendments Act of 2018 and urge its passage.

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