House Backs Nuke Waste Dump, Arms Cuts

The House on Friday backed spending curbs on U.S. nuclear weapons programs and more funding for the controversial Yucca Mountain nuclear waste dump in Nevada as it passed a $27.1-billion bill funding energy and water programs.

The House voted, 377 to 26, to clear the measure, one of 13 Congress must pass each year to fund the federal government. But the bill will probably face stiff opposition from the Senate, which has taken a different approach in its companion bill.

The measure would increase funding about $942 million over the current fiscal year, but would slash more than $326 million from President Bush’s budget request for the federal agency that oversees nuclear weapon programs.

Republicans and Democrats in the House have expressed skepticism about whether the U.S. nuclear stockpile is appropriate in a world without a superpower foe.

The bill would also cut all but $5 million of the $15.5 million Bush had sought to study new, smaller nuclear weapons that could be used to destroy deeply buried bunkers. Critics say they fear the move could spark a new nuclear arms race.

The measure would substantially boost spending on the controversial Yucca Mountain project, providing $765 million, $174 million more than Bush had requested. The planned permanent U.S. nuclear waste repository in the desert northwest of Las Vegas is bitterly opposed by Nevada.