(The Epoch Times)—The federal agency responsible for maintaining the U.S. nuclear weapons stockpile will furlough most of its workforce as the government shutdown drags on, according to the House Armed Services Committee.
Committee Chairman Mike Rogers (R-Ala.) said on Oct. 17 that about 80 percent of the staff at the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) will be furloughed as the agency’s funding runs out due to the government shutdown.
“We were just informed last night that the National Nuclear Security Administration, the group that handles and manages our nuclear stockpile, that the carryover funding they’ve been using is about to run out,” Rogers said at a press conference.
“These are not employees that you want to go home. They’re managing and handling a very important strategic asset for us. They need to be at work and being paid.”
The NNSA is a semi-autonomous agency within the Department of Energy, which is tasked with maintaining and enhancing “the safety, security, and effectiveness” of the country’s nuclear weapons stockpile.
The agency’s responsibilities also include overseeing the U.S. Navy’s nuclear propulsion program and responding to “nuclear and radiological emergencies in the United States and abroad,” according to its website.
Secretary of Energy Chris Wright stated on X that the furloughs at the NNSA would begin as early as next week, impacting “thousands of workers that are critical to modernizing our nuclear arsenal.”
About 1,400 NNSA workers are expected to be furloughed, according to the Department of Energy. It stated that Wright will visit the National Nuclear Security Site in Nevada on Oct. 20 to assess how the shutdown is affecting the nuclear weapons arsenal.
The Epoch Times has reached out to the department for further information and did not receive a response by publication time.
The government shutdown entered its 18th day on Oct. 18, as efforts to resolve the impasse failed. A Republican-backed resolution was rejected again on Oct. 16 in a 51–45 vote, falling short of the 60-vote threshold required in the Senate.
Some 400,000 federal workers are currently furloughed without pay. President Donald Trump ordered that certain unspent funds be used to pay some 1.3 million active-duty service members on Oct. 15.
Rogers told reporters on Oct. 17 that the option would no longer be available in two weeks to cover the next round of paychecks.
“We have 2 million service members that were able to get paid this week because of President Trump’s creativity. And these are families that are serving around the world. Many of them in very unfavorable conditions, making huge sacrifices for our freedom and safety, and most of them live paycheck-to-paycheck,” he said.
Rogers said that about 500,000 civilian federal employees are expected to miss their first full paycheck next week, and then “the rest of them the week thereafter.”
Lawmakers from both parties have traded blame over responsibility for the government shutdown. Democrats say Republicans triggered the shutdown by refusing to negotiate over their proposals for health care funding, while Republicans argue that such complex negotiations should take place during the regular appropriations process and not under the pressure of a government shutdown.
Lawrence Wilson and Reuters contributed to this report.
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