WASHINGTON - The House of Representatives late Wednesday passed an appropriations bill that funds President George W. Bush's plan to research clean-burning fuel sources like ethanol, but slashed funding for a Bush plan to recycle radioactive waste.
The US$30 billion energy and water appropriations bill for the 2007 fiscal year includes funding for Bush's "Advanced Energy Initiative," his State of the Union plan to reduce US oil import dependence through research into wind, solar and other home-grown energy sources like ethanol.
However, the bill would fund only half of Bush's request for the Global Nuclear Energy Partnership, a global plan to recycle nuclear waste. The House bill sets funding at US$120 million -- US$130 million less than Bush requested.
The bill now goes to the Senate, which has yet to draft its bill. Both chambers must agree on language before the funding can be enacted.
An amendment sponsored by Massachusetts Democrat Ed Markey to cut funding by another US$40 million was voted down.
US Energy Secretary Sam Bodman said he will "continue to encourage members to help us strengthen our nation's energy security by fully funding" the nuclear recycling program.
Many House lawmakers have expressed reservations about the program, saying that the administration has not yet given enough details on how it will work.
The bill also includes US$545 million to fund the administration's plan to store nuclear waste from US nuclear power plants in an underground repository at Yucca Mountain in Nevada. That would be a 20 percent funding increase from 2006 levels, if enacted.
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