money for the nuclear weapons programs in its version of the energy bill. The energy bill would provide $15 million for the penetrator research and $6 million to begin research on low-yield nuclear weapons. The so-called “mininukes” would have an explosive effect smaller than five kilotons, about a third the size of the bomb dropped on Hiroshima. Advocates of the low-yield weapons said they could limit the number of civilian deaths if nuclear weapons were used. Opponents said they would blur the distinction between nuclear and conventional weapons and increase the likelihood that nuclear weapons might be used. [Vote 349, 9/16/03 AP, 9/16/03] XXXX Voted to Send Nuclear Waste To Yucca Mountain. In 2002, XXXX voted to send nuclear waste for storage at Yucca Mountain in the Nevada desert. Opponents of the plan, including environmentalists, focused on the risks associated with transportation of nuclear waste, accusing the Energy Department of failing to ensure the safety of some 175 to 2,200 waste shipments a year. “Looking for another site…is not realistic,” Sen. Jeff Bingaman, D-N.M., argued, noting that the storage plan had been studied for 24 years at a cost of $4.5 billion. The vote was on a motion to proceed to the resolution authorizing the Yucca site. [S J Res 34, Vote 167, 7/9/02; Associated Press, 7/9/02] XXXX Voted For Government Liability Coverage For Accidents At Nuclear Power Plants. In 2002, XXXX voted to continue requiring the government to assume liability for any major nuclear accident. The amendment XXXX voted for would extend a 1957 law that caps accident liability for the industry and private insurers at $9.3 billion. The provision also extended protection to the next generation of modular reactors that might be built. The vote was on the Voinovich amendment to the National Laboratories Partnership Improvement Act of 2001. [S 517, Vote 42, 3/7/02; Associated Press, 3/7/02] XXXX Voted For Final Passage Of The FY 2002 Energy And Water Development Appropriations Bill. In 2001, XXXX voted for a bill that would provide $25.450 billion in new budget authority for fiscal year 2002 to the Department of Defense's Civil Corps of Engineers, to the Department of the Interior's Bureau of Reclamation, to the relevant offices within the Department of Energy, and to related independent agencies and commissions. It also expressed the sense of the Senate that conferees should increase the amounts provided in the bill for the Yucca Mountain Program to a level closer to the amount provided in the House-passed bill. The bill passed, 97-2. [HR 2311, Vote 240, 7/19/01] XXXX Voted to Use Yucca Mountain as Nuclear Waste Storage Site. In 1998, XXXX Voted to establish Yucca Mountain as a temporary nuclear waste storage site. [Vote 148, 6/2/98] XXXX Voted to Develop Waste Repository at Yucca Mountain. In 1997, XXXX voted for a bill which would establish an interim high-level nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain. The bill gave the president until March 1, 1999, to halt construction of the temporary waste site if it is deemed unsuitable as a permanent repository. The president would then have 18 months to choose an alternate site, which Congress would have two years to approve. If an alternate is not agreed upon, construction would automatically begin at the Nevada site. [Vote 42, 4/15/97] XXXX Voted Against a Ban Transportation of Radioactive Waste Without States Consent. In 1997, XXXX voted to kill the Reid amendment to S.104, which was an amendment to ban the transportation of radioactive waste through a state without prior written consent from the state’s governor. [Vote 36, 4/10/97] SUPERFUND SITES & POLLUTER CLEAN UP XXXX Voted Against Cleaning Up Radioactive Waste Sites. In 2004, XXXX voted against requiring the Department of Energy to clean up millions of gallons of highly radioactive waste in corroding tanks. One of the main sites of where these tanks are stored is the Savannah River site, which is also a major source of drinking water for South Carolina and Georgia. [S 2400, Vote 107, 6/3/04] XXXX Voted For $2 Billion for Tax-Exempt Environmentally Friendly Construction Projects. In 2004, XXXX voted for an amendment to authorize $2 billion for “tax-exempt bonds for environmentally friendly construction projects.” [Vote 84, 5/5/04; National Journal’s Congress Daily, 05/06/04] 124