Energy and Water Development and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2017

Floor Speech

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Mr. SIMPSON. Mr. Speaker, I move that the Committee do now rise and report the bill back to the House with sundry amendments, with the recommendation that the amendments be agreed to and that the bill, as amended, do pass.

The motion was agreed to.

Accordingly, the Committee rose; and the Speaker pro tempore (Mr. Lucas) having assumed the chair, Mr. Ribble Acting Chair of the Committee of the Whole House on the state of the Union, reported that that Committee, having had under consideration the bill (H.R. 5055) making appropriations for energy and water development and related agencies for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2017, and for other purposes, directed him to report the bill back to the House with sundry amendments adopted in the Committee of the Whole, with the recommendation that the amendments be agreed to and that the bill, as amended, do pass.

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Mr. SIMPSON. Mr. Speaker, I rise in opposition to the motion to recommit.

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Mr. SIMPSON. Mr. Speaker, H.R. 5055, is a good bill that invests $37.4 billion in priorities we can all support--national security, critical water resources, infrastructure projects for our districts, and energy independence--through an all-of-the-above approach.

First and foremost, this legislation is a defense bill. $19.44 billion out of the 37.4 billion, or 51 percent, is dedicated toward our national security. Carrying out our Nation's nuclear deterrence mission is, in part, the responsibility of the Department of Energy; while DOD provides delivery vehicles and operators, DOE provides nuclear warheads themselves.

Congress provides funding for this critical defense mission through the Energy and Water Development Appropriations bill. As we drafted this bill, we carefully considered 2,700 Member requests. This legislation addresses 95 percent of those requests in one form or another. This included four requests from Democratic Members to fund nonproliferation programs at the budget request level of $1.8 billion, which this bill does.

I agree that nonproliferation is a critical part of our overall nuclear defense strategy. We need to be doing everything we can to keep dangerous nuclear materials away from rogue nations and terrorists. Extra funding for DOE nonproliferation programs, however, is not the only way to do this. We must also provide for a strong defense capability, and this bill accomplishes that.

While I appreciate the passion for the nonproliferation and securing these materials abroad, I would also like to see the same passion for securing these materials at home. While the prospect of a terrorist getting hold of nuclear materials in the Middle East, Africa, or East Asia is terrifying, the prospect of them getting ahold of these materials in Tennessee, Texas, or California is even more so.

In 2012, three peace activists--a drifter, an 82-year-old nun, and a house painter--penetrated the exterior of the Y-12 National Security Complex in Tennessee, supposedly one of the most secure nuclear facilities in the United States. If they had been terrorists armed with explosives, that scenario would be frightening to imagine. That is why this funding in this bill is so critical.

The bill increases funding $30 million above the request to improve security at aging nuclear weapons facilities to make sure our own nuclear materials are secure on our home soil and address a backlog of $2 billion in security upgrades needed at nuclear weapons facilities.

In a tight fiscal environment, we need to be making these investments at our own nuclear facilities, not spending American taxpayer dollars to perform work in Russia's nuclear facilities.

In addition to these investments, the bill also continues prohibitions on funding for nonproliferation projects in Russia, which is spending billions of dollars on its own nuclear modernization.

In all, this is a fiscally responsible, economically smart, and critically important national security bill. It deserves to be passed quickly without further changes or delays.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to vote against this motion and to support the underlying bill.

Lastly, let me say, Mr. Speaker, I appreciate every Member of this body, on both sides of the aisle, for the 2 days of debate we have put in for the amendments that we have debated and the respectful debate that we have had on a lot of important issues. It has been a good debate, and I look forward to seeing my colleagues on the other side of the aisle who had some of their amendments adopted now voting for this bill because of the amendments that were adopted in the Committee of the Whole.

So I would urge my colleagues to vote against this motion to recommit and vote for passage of the bill.

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Mr. SIMPSON. Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.

The yeas and nays were ordered.

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