Late yesterday the House passed the FY 2009 National Defense Authorization Act (H.R. 5658) sans the administration’s request for dedicated RRW funding. It also thwarted a last-ditch effort by Congressional supporters of RRW to restore some of that funding, which the HASC had cut the previous week when it voted the bill out of committee.
Here is what HASC said last week about RRW in its summary of the bill:
The Committee’s priority is to sustain and modernize the Stockpile Stewardship Program. While there is value in continuing the design-cost study of the RRW program, the Committee redirects $10 million requested for RRW by the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) to other, higher priority SSP activities. The Committee also redirects $23.3 million in RRW funds requested by the Navy.
The full text of H.R. 5658 as enacted is available here. NNSA items begin at Section 3101 (p.684). The Committee Report explains the funding in some detail at p.201.
Good riddance.