H.R. 1, the continuing resolution (CR) passed by the House in February that would cut some $61 billion from FY 2010 levels for the remainder of FY 2011 is no friend of nuclear safety. A rundown of the bill reveals the following cuts:

Unless Congress comes to an agreement over current fiscal year funding soon-- and one acceptable to President Obama -- many operations of the federal government will shut down after March 4. Although what exactly will be shutdown remains uncertain, it's likely the public will notice and be inconvenienced while hundreds of thousands of federal employees will be furloughed. In short, it would be a huge mess and someone will have to take the rap.

While much of the national attention recently has been on President Obama’s fiscal year 2012 budget proposal, the House of Representatives is still looking backward to FY 2011. Last Friday, House Republicans unveiled a new and improved budget plan, one containing $60.9 billion in cuts from the FY 2010 budget ($65.5 billion cut from non-security discretionary, $4.7 billion increase for security spending). The new plan is an update to one released just days earlier, one which the party’s conservative faction rejected. These conservatives pushed for a full $100 billion worth of cuts from Obama’s FY 2011 budget (which as I said last week was a terrible baseline), and in a matter of days, the conservatives got them. And the new budget is full of bad news.