New York (Platts)--31Aug2007

With the start of a new fiscal year just over four weeks away, US Department
of Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman is urging Congress to pass funding for the
agency consistent with the $24.3 billion budget that President Bush initially
proposed. 

Based on votes made earlier this year, lawmakers seem inclined to exceed the
initial administration proposal, especially for renewable energy and other DOE
programs.

"This budget request sets forth a fiscally responsible path to fund the
nation's highest priorities while reducing funds for low priority or
non-performing programs," Bodman said in a letter DOE released Thursday.

"Furthermore, I am confident the top-line amount set for [DOE] will enable us
to successfully accomplish our mission, fund fixed costs and allow us to move
forward with important initiatives," Bodman added.

Earlier this year, the White House threatened to veto fiscal 2008 energy and
water appropriations if they exceeded Bush's initial proposal. Despite the
threat, the House of Representatives in July passed H.R. 2641 ? a bill
containing $25.2 billion for DOE ? by a 312-112 vote, theoretically enough to
override a possible Bush veto. 

The version of the bill that the Senate Appropriations Committee adopted that
month includes $25.8 billion for DOE. The Senate has not yet voted on the
measure.

In the letters, which Bodman sent Monday to leaders of the House and Senate
Energy and Water Development subcommittees, the secretary said Bush "has made
it clear that he will only support" discretionary funding levels that he
proposed in his budgets for DOE and other agencies.

The new fiscal year begins on October 1. While Congress each year aims to pass
appropriations bills by then, it has failed to do so in recent years,
requiring temporary measures to fund agencies in the interim.

--Bill Loveless, bill_loveless@platts.com