Earliest A Defense Bill Has Been Enacted In More Than Four Decades 

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Dean Heller (R-NV) successfully worked to keep an authorization of $30 million for Yucca Mountain out of the final product and joint conference committee report on the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) that Congress passed and the President signed into law today. The legislation provides our troops the largest pay raise in nearly a decade, and today marks the earliest date that a defense bill has been enacted ahead of the next fiscal year in more than 40 years.

On May 24, 2018, the U.S. House of Representatives approved its version of the NDAA with $30 million authorized to revive Yucca Mountain, and on June 18^th, Heller announced that he successfully ensured that the U.S. Senate’s version of the bill excluded the $30 million to store defense nuclear waste at Yucca Mountain. 

In addition to removing a provision authorizing $30 million to store defense nuclear waste at Yucca Mountain from the NDAA, Heller was successful in securing a provision that authorizes veterans who have a service-connected, permanent disability rated as 100 percent to travel on military aircraft on space-available status. The NDAA also includes language mirroring one of Heller’s provisions the he filed to ensure resources are available to treat victims of military sexual trauma as part of the required service member pre-separation counseling.

“The U.S. House of Representatives tried to use the defense bill as a vehicle to jumpstart Yucca Mountain, but I wouldn’t let that happen. I was proud to work with Chairman McCain and Senator Inhofe of the U.S. Senate Committee on Armed Services to keep $30 million to revive Yucca Mountain out of the defense bill that the U.S. Senate passed as well as the version that we ultimately sent to the President’s desk for his signature,” said Heller. “I’m also pleased that this legislation gives our troops the largest pay raise in nearly a decade and provides our military with the resources necessary to keep us safe. Additionally, today marks the first time in more than 40 years that a defense bill has been passed by Congress and signed into law this far ahead of the start of the fiscal year. This is what Congress doing its job looks like, and going forward I’m going to continue to work with my colleagues toward passing a budget and keeping Yucca Mountain out of it.”

Heller previously worked with Chairman John McCain (R-AZ) and Senator Jim Inhofe (R-OK), a senior member of the U.S. Senate Committee on Armed Services, to make sure that the U.S. Senate’s version of the NDAA did not authorize funding to store defense nuclear waste at Yucca Mountain. That letter is available HERE. Heller also urged Chairman McCain to maintain his position of not authorizing funding for Yucca Mountain throughout negotiations with members of the U.S. House of Representatives and in the conference report that Congress passed and sent to the President’s desk for his signature. That letter is available HERE.

BACKGROUND:  Timeline of Heller’s previous work to stop Yucca Mountain: 

• On July 6, 2018, Heller contacted U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman John McCain (R-AZ) about maintaining the position of not authorizing funding for Yucca Mountain in the final conference report for the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA).
• On July 2, 2018, Heller wrote U.S. Senate Appropriations Chairman Richard Shelby (R-AL) and U.S. Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Energy and Water Development Chairman Lamar Alexander (R-TN) thanking them for not funding Yucca Mountain in the minibus and urging them not to fund any activities related to Yucca Mountain in the conference report.
• On April 13, 2018, Heller contacted U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman John McCain (R-AZ) and urged him to exclude any language that authorizes funding for Yucca Mountain from the National Defense Authorization Act.
• On April 13, 2018, Heller urged U.S. Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Energy and Water Development Chairman Lamar Alexander (R-TN) and Ranking Member Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) not to fund the DOE budget request for $120 million to revive Yucca Mountain.
• On April 24, 2018 in a letter submitted to Subcommittee Chairman Lamar Alexander (R-TN) and Ranking Member Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), Heller expressed his strong opposition to funding the NRC and said he remains staunchly opposed to any federal efforts to revive Yucca Mountain.
• On March 21, 2018 during a U.S. Senate Banking Committee hearing with Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Director Mick Mulvaney, U.S. Senator Dean Heller (R-NV) highlighted the Administration’s reckless and fiscally irresponsible pursuit of Yucca Mountain, stating that the federal government has already wasted billions of dollars on the project. When asked about alternative solutions to the country’s nuclear waste problem, Director Mulvaney told Heller that he is open-minded to other resolutions and suggested they work together to find one.
• On March 20, 2018 in a letter submitted to Chairman Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) and Ranking Member Maria Cantwell (D-WA), Heller argued that Yucca Mountain poses numerous health and safety risks to the people of southern Nevada and potentially catastrophic financial risks to the state’s tourism economy. He urged them not to fund the $120 million to restart the repository licensing process for Yucca Mountain.
• On March 20, 2018 Heller discussed DOE’s budget request with Secretary Perry at a U.S. Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation hearing. Heller noted that the $120 million requested to fund licensing activities at Yucca Mountain was denied last year and that it will be denied again this year. 
• On September 26, 2017, Heller argued that Yucca Mountain is not the solution to our country’s nuclear waste problem in written testimony submitted to the U.S. House Oversight and Government Reform Subcommittee on the Interior, Energy, and Environment.
• On July 20, 2017, the U.S. Senate Appropriations Committee advanced the Senate’s Energy and Water Appropriations bill and unlike the version that passed the House of Representatives Appropriations Committee, the Senate bill did not include funding for Yucca Mountain.
• On July 28, 2017, the Senate’s Energy and Water Appropriations Subcommittee advanced a bill that did not include the $120 million requested by the Department of Energy (DOE) to revive Yucca Mountain.
• On June 21, 2017, Heller submitted testimony to the U.S. Senate Energy and Water Appropriations Subcommittee expressing his vehement opposition to the Yucca Mountain proposal.
• On June 20, 2017, Heller reacted to Secretary Perry’s comments at a U.S. Senate Energy and Water Appropriations Subcommittee hearing, characterizing them as a “blatant disregard for the state of Nevada.”
• On June 6, 2017, Heller expressed concern after the U.S. Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources voted to advance Dan Brouillette’s nomination for the deputy secretary position at the Department of Energy (DOE), the federal agency that has jurisdiction over the licensing activities at Yucca Mountain.
• On May 26, 2017, Heller reacted to the Government Accountability Office’s (GAO) report detailing the lengthy and costly Yucca Mountain licensing process.
• On May 25, 2017, Heller spoke on the U.S. Senate floor and reiterated his concern with the President’s 2018 Fiscal Year budget request that included $120 million to restart the licensing activities for Yucca Mountain.
• On May 18, 2017, Heller spoke on the U.S. Senate floor to highlight the threat that Yucca Mountain poses not only to Nevada, but the entire country.
• On May 12, 2017, Heller spoke on the U.S. Senate floor to highlight Yucca Mountain’s threat to the Las Vegas economy.
• On April 27, 2017, Heller reaffirmed his staunch opposition to relicensing the Yucca Mountain nuclear repository to Department of Energy Secretary Rick Perry.
• On April 26, 2017, Heller testified before a U.S. House of Representatives Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Environment hearing on legislation to revive Yucca Mountain.
• On March 29, 2017, Heller urged the Administration to drop its Yucca Mountain proposal, included in its FY2018 budget request.
• On March 16, 2017, Heller released a statement on the Administration’s FY2018 budget request, which included a proposal to revive Yucca Mountain. 

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