Nuke agency reorganization delay preserves 150 jobs

Ben Grove

Friday, Jan. 24, 2003 | 9:34 a.m.

WASHINGTON -- After some quiet maneuvering by Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., the Senate Thursday night approved legislation that halts job cuts in Nevada within the National Nuclear Security Administration.

The legislation would delay for at least one year the reorganization of the agency's operations and offices. It would temporarily preserve about 150 of the 237 Nevada jobs that were on the chopping block. The reorganization aims to slash the agency's total workforce by 20 percent nationwide.

"I am terribly disappointed that the president wants to take 150 jobs out of Nevada," Reid said in a written statement.

As minority whip, Reid is the No. 2 Democrat in the Senate. He used that clout to Democrat attach the National Nuclear Security Administration legislation as an amendment to a $390 billion omnibus spending bill for the current fiscal year. Reid negotiated to insert the provision with a number of senators who were not initially receptive, including Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., and Sen. Ted Stevens, R-Alaska, who was managing the bill on the floor. Reid wouldn't say how he convinced them to accept it.

"I didn't trade anything, I just reasoned with them," Reid said in an interview Thursday night.

House and Senate negotiators are likely to finalize the spending bill and its new provision next week, Reid aides said. President Bush is expected to sign it.

The National Nuclear Security Administration, or NNSA, is an arm of the Energy Department that was created in March 2000 to oversee nuclear security programs. The agency manages nuclear weapons work and other programs at the Nevada Test Site.

The agency in December announced the results of a year-long efficiency study and outlined its plans to cut bureaucracy and duplication within the agency's operations nationwide.

The jobs already are being phased out, but no one is out of work yet. The reorganization was to be complete by October 2004. There is still time to re-evaluate the agency reorganization, Reid said.

Nevada lawmakers opposed the job cuts from the beginning. Before the December announcement, Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev., had personally appealed to NNSA Administrator Linton Brooks, a former ambassador, to spare the Nevada offices.

Reid was irked the job cuts were made without consultation with Congress. Reid did not consult with the NNSA about the legislation.

"It's fair to say that the Ambassador (Brooks) is coming to see me next week," Reid said. Reid said the meeting was already on his schedule.

The NNSA amendment was attached to a broader spending bill that lawmakers failed to finalize last year. It sets budgets for a number of federal agencies and programs for the fiscal year that began Oct. 1. The bill includes money for all kinds of projects in Nevada. It contains $70 million for Nevada transportation projects alone, Reid aides said.

Among the items included in the bill are: