Money To Oversee Nuclear Weapons Safety Will Start Running Low After 8 Days, Energy Secretary Says

Energy Secretary Chris Wright is warning that the agency within the Energy Department that oversees the safety and reliability of the nation's nuclear weapons stockpile has only enough funding to operate at full strength for about eight more days because of the ongoing government shutdown.

"Eight more days of funding, and then we have to go into some emergency shutdown procedures, putting our country at risk," Wright said Thursday evening on Fox News, referring to the National Nuclear Security Administration.

Prior to federal cuts imposed earlier this year, NNSA had more than 65,000 federal workers and contractors across the country responsible for a wide range of activities from maintaining the nuclear arsenal to international non-proliferation work and overseeing the U.S. Navy's nuclear operations.

In its recent shutdown plan, the Energy Department said it would maintain the NNSA's weapons-focused staff who operate "critical control operations systems," as well as employees who work on tasks such as stemming the spread of nuclear weapons, but it did not offer figures on how many people that includes.

The agency's operations were reportedly largely not affected during the 35-day government shutdown that occurred during President Donald Trump's first term, and DOE said it does not expect any disruption to its operations in the event of a short-term lapse in appropriations. But as the White House exerts pressure on Democrats over a shutdown that shows no sign of ending soon, Wright's comments Thursday suggest NNSA's coffers are running low.

Wright reiterated his concerns in a separate interview on CNN and suggested that the department would have to reduce staffing at the nuclear branch to a bare-bones crew once funding runs dry.

"We have to go into an emergency shutdown program to keep a limited number of people to make sure our weapons are safe, but it's highly disruptive to our operations that we'd have to reassemble again," he said.

The shutdown poses the second risk this year to the NNSA, after cuts instituted by Elon Musk's DOGE removed too many people, forcing DOE to call back some terminated workers at the NNSA. Those DOGE appointees were reportedly unaware of the NNSA's role in overseeing national security.

Spokespeople for the Energy Department did not provide any additional details on the procedures on Friday. A NNSA staffer previously told POLITICO's E&E News the DOE branch usually has "funds to carry us over for a month or two" during a shutdown, but said that "this time, I think we have funds to last a week."

The secretary blamed congressional Democrats for not advancing a clean funding resolution to keep the government running.

"Chuck Schumer is worried about his left flank and is willing to put at risk Americans jobs in the country to protect his own political future. What about Americans? What about our nuclear security?" Wright said.

Schumer, for his part, has accused Trump of "playing politics with the shutdown" in response to a list of terminated projects at the Energy Department this week.

The Energy Department's overall shutdown contingency plan showed that about 60 percent of staff could be furloughed after a lapse in appropriations. The plan said 1,575 employees would be retained to "protect life and property," including a small staff in the NNSA.

The document said the NNSA would perform functions related to maintenance, development, production and safeguarding of nuclear weapons; international nonproliferation activities; and design and servicing of naval reactors.

"Within the weapons programs, excepted personnel will have oversight concerning stopping or maintaining critical control operations systems that involve nuclear materials or maintenance of one-of-a-kind equipment in order to make shutdown decisions," the plan said.

The plan also detailed a department that has already seen a significant reduction to staffing after the Trump administration allowed employees to voluntarily resign earlier this year. DOE said a total of 3,050 agency employees accepted the deferred resignation program.