FPN17-17

US Congress Passes FY 2017 Appropriations -- Finally

May 4, 2017

The US government Fiscal Year 2017, which officially began on October 1, 2016, finally has an "Omnibus" funding bill from Congress. The bill, funding a large part of the US government, includes FY 2017 funding for the US fusion programs. The funding comes, of course, when FY 2017 is more than half over. Funding up to now has been on the basis of "continuing resolutions" which have kept most programs going at FY 2016 levels.

The appropriation bill provides the DOE Office of Fusion Energy Sciences (OFES) with $330M for domestic (non-ITER) programs, compared to $323M provided in FY 2016, and $273M originally requested by President Obama for FY 2017.

For ITER, the bill provides only $50M, compared to $115M provided in FY 2016, and $125M originally requested by President Obama for FY 2017. The Congress indicated that they were providing Energy Secretary Perry the flexibility to reprogram another $50M for ITER at his discretion from the $5.4 billion provided to the Office of Science as a whole.

For the DOE's Inertial Confinement Fusion and High Yield program, the bill provides $523M, compared to $511M provided in FY2016 and $523M as originally requested by President Obama for FY 2017. The bill states that the amount provided includes $330M for the National Ignition Facility, $68M for the Omega laser effort at U. Rochester and $8.5M for the Naval Research Laboratory.

Links to various related documents are posted at http://firefusionpower.org