On the recordMay 16, 2013
as did my colleague from Georgia Senator Isakson, I wish to thank Senator Graham for his leadership on this issue. He is right. We have been to the facility a number of times to examine what is going on there. There is great work being done by highly trained, highly educated individuals to deal with one of the most sensitive products we have in this country. The Senator is exactly right that there are significant consequences from an international standpoint if the numbers in the President's budget are allowed to stand. That is why we have had conversations with a number of individuals currently at the Department of Energy and why we had a conversation with Dr. Moniz in preparation for his confirmation by this body. Those discussions have led to the fact that, as the Senator from Georgia says, we are willing--and we have their agreement that they are willing--to sit down with a contractor to talk about the money. That is the real issue because we are talking about a budget item and whether we can afford to do this. If we don't involve the contractor, then obviously we can't get that number down to a manageable number. So, again, with the leadership of the Senator from South Carolina, we look forward to working with Dr. Moniz and others with respect to sitting down with the contractor and coming to some resolution of the ultimate budget number that is going to be needed.…
