News from Congressmember Darrell Issa

Issa on passage of Nuclear Waste Policy Amendments Act

On May 10 Congressman Darrell Issa (R-Vista) released the following statement after the U.S. House of Representatives passed legislation regarding the storage of spent nuclear fuel:

“Today’s bipartisan House passage of the Nuclear Waste Policy Amendments Act is an important step forward in moving nuclear waste out of local communities,” said Issa. “The federal government must keep its commitment to safely dispose of nuclear waste and this proposal will put us back on track to advance to a long-term permanent site as well as more immediate interim options.”

While not addressing all concerns related to nuclear waste, the Nuclear Waste Policy Amendments Act of 2018 (H.R. 3053) includes key provisions that would provide a way for waste from the San Onofre Nuclear Generation Station (SONGS) to be moved out of the North San Diego County community.

Under a bipartisan compromise added to the legislation, the long-awaited permanent nuclear storage facility at Yucca Mountain could move forward and the Department of Energy would be authorized to open a temporary, interim site where nuclear waste from shuttered facilities – like SONGS – could be moved to and safely stored while the construction of the Yucca repository is completed.

BACKGROUND:

Spent nuclear fuel currently sits idle in 121 communities across 39 states because the country lacks a permanent geologic repository.

California ratepayers have already paid over $2 billion toward the Department of Energy’s Nuclear Waste Fund to permanently dispose of spent nuclear fuel at the Yucca Mountain repository.  This is the sixth most of any state in the country.  The total Fund maintains over $40 billion from ratepayers across the country.

For years, Congressman Issa has been championing common-sense solutions for our nation’s nuclear waste storage, including his legislation the Interim Consolidated Storage Act (H.R. 474) which would authorize interim nuclear storage sites, similar to those included in the Nuclear Waste Policy Amendments Act of 2018.

The legislation passed today:

• Assists in the resolution of the pending Yucca Mountain license;
• Directs DOE to move forward with a temporary storage program to consolidate spent nuclear fuel from sites – prioritizing shuttered places like SONGS – while working on the Yucca Mountain repository;
• Protects our national security priorities by ensuring DOE upholds its responsibility to take ownership of spent fuel and for transportation to a storage facility;
• Reforms a broken financing mechanism to protect ratepayers and assure DOE has adequate funding to construct and operate a multi-generational infrastructure project;
• Provides Nevada and local stakeholders the opportunity to beneficially engage with the Federal government as the host State for the repository; and,
• Strengthens DOE’s program management and organization to more effectively implement its nuclear waste program.

Interim storage is supported by local governments and leaders as an important part of getting the nuclear material from San Onofre moved out of our community. Local groups including the City of Encinitas, the San Diego County Board of Supervisors, the Orange County Board of Supervisors, the San Diego Regional Chamber of Commerce, and the Mayors of Oceanside, Huntington Beach, Laguna Beach, San Clemente and Seal Beach through the Concerned Coastal Communities Coalition and the Angeles Chapter of the Sierra Club, have expressed their support for solutions.

Issa Applauds Trump Executive Order on FITARA

On May 16 Congressman Darrell Issa issued the following statement applauding President Donald Trump’s recently-signed Executive Order that will elevate the role of federal agency Chief Information Officers (CIOs):

“The President’s leadership to address this shortfall in reforming government IT is a welcome step to a more efficient and transparent government and, as we intended with the Federal Information Technology Acquisition Act (FITARA), will ultimately reduce the costs of outdated IT practices that are put upon the American taxpayers. Through this Executive Order, this Administration is pushing the implementation of provisions of FITARA, which was signed into law in 2014 but not fully implemented by the previous administration,” said Issa. “One of our primary goals with FITARA was to strengthen the role of federal agencies’ CIOs, in order to give them greater visibility into agency IT spending.  Despite the law, the authority of CIOs at many agencies unfortunately continues to trail other areas of government IT improvement and that’s why this EO speaks to this Administration’s commitment to the law and good technology decision making.”

The Executive Order will expand the authority of agency CIOs by requiring that they report directly to the head of their federal agency.  Additionally, it will enable CIOs to become voting members of bureau-level IT Governance Boards, with the goal of increasing their influence in hiring decisions and enterprise awareness.

The Executive Order was issued on May 15, 2018.

Congressman Issa’s FITARA Act, H.R. 1163, was signed into law on December 18, 2014.

Issa on DOJ’s IG Report

Today’s report sheds light on the cumulative bias at some of the highest levels of the FBI.

On June 14 Congressman Darrell Issa issued the following statement reacting to today’s report from the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) Inspector General:

“Today’s report from the Department of Justice’s Inspector General sheds new light on the cumulative bias at some of the highest levels of the FBI during the lead-up to the 2016 election. Time after time, high-ranking FBI officials put politics before country and usurped their leadership responsibilities to protect themselves and their political allies. The report shows how the FBI became infected with politics and continuously disregarded rules and procedures to the detriment of Donald Trump and benefit of Hillary Clinton. Furthermore, contrary to reports from the Clinton campaign and the Obama DOJ, we now know that Clinton’s negligent e-mail security practices resulted in foreign actors attempting to breach high level information.

Most troublingly, Inspector General Michael Horowitz found text messages between FBI personnel that clearly demonstrate a strong prejudice against then-candidate Donald Trump. In one particular exchange, an FBI agent called Trump “a menace.” The same agent proclaimed the FBI would need to take out an “insurance policy” in case Trump was elected. A different FBI agent responded to the prospect of a Trump presidency by proclaiming, “We’ll stop it.” For the sake of the Republic, thank God they failed.

President Trump was absolutely correct in terminating James Comey for the incompetence, arrogance, and insubordination he consistently displayed in his role as Director of the FBI.  If we are to restore faith in the FBI as an institution, we must clean house to reestablish the American people’s confidence in the Bureau.”