Nuclear budget up in FY 2014; FY 2015 request down slightly

摘要

Even in the most amicable of political times, a federal administrations budget request seldom resembles what is eventually appropriated by Congress and signed into law. Given the current climate in the nation's capital, in which the impasse between House Republicans and the Oba-ma administration produced a government shutdown last October, there would seem to be virtually no chance of a resemblance between requests and appropriations when (and if) appropriations are approved for fiscal year 2015, which begins on October 1. Still, many nuclear endeavors depend on federal funding to varying degrees, so a budget request at least reflects how those endeavors are regarded by the administration. Also, because the final budget for FY 2014 was enacted in mid-January and details were not available until later, this is our first opportunity to show what can actually be spent on federal programs from now through the end of September.