Angie Craig: “I rise to address a provision of S. 1004, the appropriations bill for energy and water development for fiscal year 1998.…”

“I rise to address a provision of S. 1004, the appropriations bill for energy and water development for fiscal year 1998. I refer specifically to the President's request for a new initiative within the Department of Energy, called nuclear energy security. The bill before us contains no funding for this new initiative. I wish to address my colleagues on the reasons for the subcommittee's treatment of this initiative and the direction in which I believe the Department should focus its nuclear energy research and development program. The committee report to accompany S. 1004 states that although the committee supports the use of nuclear energy to produce electricity, the Department's proposed program to address technical issues will have insufficient impact to justify the expense and therefore, no funding was provided. I am concerned that the Department of Energy will take the wrong message from this action. It is my view, as a member of the Appropriations Committee and as a member of the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, that this country needs a viable nuclear energy program--both for our energy security and for our national security.”