President Barack Obama has nominated a physicist and director at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to serve as his next energy secretary.
If confirmed by the U.S. Senate, Ernest J. Moniz would replace Steven Chu, a Nobel Prize-winning physicist, as secretary of the U.S. Department of Energy. Chu announced Feb. 1 that he would not serve a second four-year term in the Obama administration.
Lamar Alexander
Bob Corker
U.S. Sen. Lamar Alexander on Thursday said the automatic federal spending cuts going into effect today demonstrate a failure of presidential leadership.
The senator also said he would like to minimize the impact of the cuts on important government institutions such as the Oak Ridge National Laboratory, student loans, and the proposed Uranium Processing Facility at the Y-12 Security Complex.
Congress and the White House approved the automatic, across-the-board cuts in discretionary and defense spending— known as sequestration—about 18 months ago in the Budget Control Act of 2011. Considered unpalatable by many, the cuts were meant to encourage Democrats and Republicans to compromise on deficit reduction efforts.
That hasn’t worked.
Chuck Spencer
Note: This story was updated at 8:05 p.m.
The work week at the Y-12 National Security Complex could occasionally be reduced to 30 hours for many employees between April and October as part of a budget-cutting plan announced Thursday.
Under the proposal, nonessential personnel could work three 10-hour days rather than four 10-hour days every third week. The plan has been proposed in response to the automatic federal spending cuts scheduled to start taking effect at midnight.
B&W Y-12 General Manager Chuck Spencer said the cuts would require furloughs, or temporary layoffs, for most employees.
Chuck Spencer
Operating costs have already been cut by 7 percent at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, and all employees are expected to report to work on Friday, even if automatic federal spending cuts go into effect at midnight.
The federal cuts could reduce lab funding by 5 percent to 8 percent, ORNL Director Thom Mason said. That could translate into $70 million to $100 million in funding cuts, depending upon how the reductions are allocated.
Meanwhile, at the Y-12 National Security Complex, the automatic spending cuts could lead to furloughs, or temporary layoffs. Democrats on the U.S. House Appropriations Committee have said between 700 and 1,000 employees could be furloughed for up to six months.
But in a Feb. 14 message to employees, B&W Y-12 General Manager Chuck Spencer did not say how many employees might be affected.
The automatic federal spending cuts set to start taking effect Friday could result in $23 million in budget cuts at the Tennessee Valley Authority, a spokesman said Wednesday.
But the federal spending cuts—also referred to as sequestration—would probably not lead to temporary layoffs at the public utility, TVA spokesman Duncan Mansfield said. The federal cuts would trim $85 billion from defense and domestic spending for the rest of the fiscal year.
“We anticipate that we would not have to do furloughs, and we would be able to manage that through head count attrition,” Mansfield said. “At this point, we are not seeing an immediate impact.”
U.S. Sen. Lamar Alexander
U.S. Sen. Lamar Alexander voted against the confirmation of Chuck Hagel as defense secretary on Tuesday.
Hagel, a former Republican senator from Nebraska, was confirmed in a 58-41 vote, ending a nearly two-month battle that included an unprecedented filibuster against the nominee.
“I consider Chuck Hagel a patriot,” said Alexander, a Tennessee Republican. “But he is not the right person to lead the world’s largest military organization in these dangerous times.”
Cheryl “Shelly” T. George
In celebration of Black History Month, the Oak Ridge Chapter of Blacks in Government is sponsoring the Annual BIG Scholarship Luncheon on Thursday, a press release said.
It’s scheduled from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Oak Ridge Civic Center.
The keynote speaker will be professor and author Cheryl “Shelly” T. George. She will discuss the 2013 Black History Month theme “Honoring Freedom: 150 Years after the Emancipation Proclamation and 50 Years after the March on Washington.”
Bob Corker
U.S. Sen. Bob Corker on Monday said a recent nuclear test by North Korea violated international agreements and posed a threat to regional and global security.
Corker, who is a ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said the Senate unanimously passed a resolution condemning the nuclear test.
Joan Cronan
Joan Cronan, University of Tennessee women’s athletic director emeritus and consultant and adviser to the chancellor, will be the keynote speaker at a women’s workshop in March.
The 2013 Oak Ridge Women’s Workshop is co-sponsored by the U. S. Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge Federal Women’s Program and the Federally Employed Women Oak Ridge Chapter.
Note: This story was updated at 3:51 a.m. Feb. 21.
A former Oak Ridge police officer who had alleged she was the subject of sexual rumors that had created a hostile work environment has withdrawn a $1.25 million federal lawsuit against the city.
Former Oak Ridge Police Department Officer Christina Targonski had alleged that another officer had spread sexual rumors about her—allegedly telling other officers that she had invited him to an orgy and was distributing nude photos of herself to “whoever wanted them,” federal court records said.
The Tennessee Valley Authority and Babcock and Wilcox announced Wednesday a major step in their joint effort to build and test the nation’s first small modular reactor at TVA’s Clinch River Site in Oak Ridge.
TVA and B&W signed a contract Feb. 7 that formalizes the process toward the eventual submittal and Nuclear Regulatory Commission review of a licensing application for a B&W mPower small modular reactor, or SMR, nuclear plant at Clinch River.
Lamar Alexander
Bob Corker
Senate Republicans on Thursday voted against ending debate on the nomination of Chuck Hagel to be the nation’s next defense secretary.
Hagel is a former Republican Senator and a Vietnam War veteran, but his nomination has been opposed by conservatives and pro-Israel forces. The Senate voted 58 to 40 to end debate, two votes short of the 60 that were needed.
Senators Lamar Alexander and Bob Corker, both Tennessee Republicans, voted against ending the debate.
