“Tough day today,″ Wright said in Las Vegas before a scheduled visit to the Nevada National Security Site in Mercury, Nevada. ”We’re working hard to protect everyone’s jobs and keep our national stockpile secure,” Wright said.
The furloughs do not pose an immediate threat to national security, Wright said, adding: “We have emergency employees and the current nuclear stockpile is safe.”
Wright said the disruption would affect employees and their families and will delay testing of commercial reactors, including some small modular reactors that the Trump administration has pushed as a cheaper alternative to costly nuclear plants that can take years or even decades to bring online.
“These are jobs of great gravity,” Wright said, urging congressional leaders to reopen the government as soon as possible.
Democratic Sen. Ed Markey of Massachusetts said it was “dangerously unacceptable that the Trump administration claims it will have to temporarily suspend certain nuclear security programs because of the ongoing government shutdown.”
“There is no justification for relaxing security and oversight when it comes to our nuclear stockpile,” Markey said.
House Armed Services Committee Chairman Mike Rogers, R-Ala., said lawmakers were informed of the pending furloughs late last week.
“These are not employees that you want to go home,” he said at a news conference Friday. “They’re managing and handling a very important strategic asset for us. They need to be at work and being paid.”
Republican Sen. Roger Wicker of Mississippi, who chairs the Senate Armed Services Committee, called the furloughs unacceptable.
“We cannot allow delays or interruptions to our nuclear programs during this shutdown. This is not a partisan issue, and for the sake of our national security” Congress should immediately reopen the government, Wicker said in a statement. “In the interim, it is incumbent upon Secretary Wright to work with Congress, OMB and the White House to ensure our nuclear weapons stockpile remains safe, secure and capable of deterring our adversaries.”
Employees received furlough notices dated Sunday for 30 days or less, with an expiration date of Nov. 18. Employees who are not involved in performing critical functions such as those related to the safety of human life and the protection of property or working on the orderly suspension of operations were being placed in a furlough status without pay.
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Jennifer McDermott in Providence, R.I., and Ty ONeil in Las Vegas contributed to this story.
