Funding to oversee the weapons\u2019 safety could lapse due to an ongoing government shutdown, the energy secretary has said<\/p>\n
US Energy Secretary Chris Wright has cautioned that the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) could run out of funding to monitor the country\u2019s nuclear arsenal within eight days because of an ongoing government shutdown. He said operations would be suspended once the money is gone.
\nThe US federal government has stopped working for the first time in almost seven years, after Republicans and Democrats failed to agree on a spending bill in the Senate.
\nOn Friday, the Senate failed to pass either a Republican bill or a Democratic alternative, with both measures falling short of the votes needed. Both sides blamed each other for the crisis. Lawmakers are expected to try again on October 6.
\n\u201cEight more days of funding, and then we have to go into some emergency shutdown procedures, putting our country at risk,\u201d Wright said Thursday evening on Fox News, referring to the National Nuclear Security Administration.<\/p>\n
Read more<\/p>\n
Sweden eyeing own nukes \u2013 Times<\/p>\n
The secretary said over 20 officials in his department are still awaiting Senate confirmation, blaming Democrats for delaying tactics and prolonging the shutdown by withholding key votes.
\nBefore this year\u2019s federal cuts, the NNSA employed more than 65,000 federal workers and contractors nationwide, handling everything from maintaining the nuclear arsenal to non-proliferation efforts and oversight of the US Navy\u2019s nuclear operations.
\nIn its latest shutdown plan, the US Energy Department said it would keep NNSA staff running \u201ccritical control operations systems\u201d and those working on nuclear non-proliferation, but gave no figures on how many employees would be included.
\nUS President Donald Trump has suggested he may use the shutdown to push through major staff and wage cuts, blaming Democrats for the budget impasse. The White House is also using the standoff to target programs opposed by Republicans.
\nFederal agencies have partially suspended services and many employees are furloughed. The last government shutdown began on December 22, 2018 and lasted 35 days.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Funding to oversee the weapons\u2019 safety could lapse due to an ongoing government shutdown, the energy secretary has said US Energy Secretary Chris Wright has cautioned that the National Nuclear…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":19695,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":[],"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","footnotes":""},"categories":[4,6,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-19694","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-economy","category-environment","category-politics"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t