Today the House Committee on Appropriations Energy and Water Subcommittee was scheduled to hold the first mark-up on a Fiscal Year 2011spending bill.  The mark-up, however, has been postponed , another delay not all that rare this appropriations season.

The Energy and Water Appropriations Bill covers funding for a number of agencies and programs including the Department of Energy and the Army Corps of Engineers.   This would have been the first Appropriations mark-up for the House in a year where FY2011 appropriations have largely been sidelined leaving little option for the House and Senate but a Continuing Appropriations bill at the end of the fiscal year.

TCS will be watching many areas in the bill—of particular interest will be the DOE Loan Guarantee Program. TCS cautions against adding any more loan guarantee authority to the program, which has been riddled with problems since its inception. The program currently has taxpayers on the hook for $51 billion and taxpayers should not be asked to provide more backing for high risk projects that even Wall Street won't touch, like nuclear reactors.

Read our letter to the Subcommittee outlining our concerns with nuclear loan guarantees .