The Senate Committee on Appropriations approved a 5 percent boost for the national nuclear weapons program in a budget package that included New Mexico's two nuclear laboratories. While some senators grumbled under the strain of the August debt-ceiling measure, the committee endorsed a $31.6 billion allocation for energy- and water-related programs — $5 billion less than what was requested by the White House.

"The federal budget is tightening, so it is significant that the labs' budget is increased overall in the Senate bill," said Sen. Jeff Bingaman, D-N.M., in a statement. "As the bill continues to work its way through Congress, we will be working hard to ensure our labs have the funding they need to fulfill their missions."

The measure applies to the fiscal year starting Oct. 1 and will need Senate approval and reconciliation with a House bill that is about $1 billion less before it goes to President Barack Obama for a signature.

Senators from states battered by floods and hurricanes this summer or in perennially vulnerable locations looked for ways to amend the bill for extra disaster relief and flood protection.

Sen. Mary Landrieu, D.-La, noted that construction funding for the Corps of Engineers had been cut substantially since 2008, from $2.2 billion to $1.6 billion this year, despite a huge backlog of projects and significant flooding since Katrina.

Sen. Dianne Feinstein, co-chair of the energy subcommittee that passed the funding blueprint Tuesday, agreed. "Essentially, the large nuclear mandate drives down the money for everything else, and it's wrong," she said. "It bumps right up against the rest of energy, ARPA-E and the Office of Science." ARPA-E is a fund for advanced research on energy issues.

According to a fact sheet provided by Bingaman and Sen. Tom Udall, Los Alamos and Sandia national laboratories will share $1.8 billion for directed stockpile work, a high-priority item over the next several years aimed at upgrading three nuclear warhead systems, the W-76, W-78 and B-61.

The Senate proposal recommended $185 million for environmental cleanup at Los Alamos and $240 million for the Chemistry and Metallurgy Research Replacement facility, a multibillion dollar project that includes a hazardous-plutonium handling and storage building. The recommendation represented a $60 million cut from the administration's request and echoed a $100 million reduction in the House version of the energy and water bill from earlier this year.

A Senate staffer said that the FY12 funds for the Chemistry and Metallurgy Research Replacement facility were intended for completion of design and engineering.