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H.R. 3053: Nuclear Waste Policy Amendments Act of 2017

May 10, 2018 at 11:24 a.m. ET. On Passage of the Bill in the House.

This was a vote to pass H.R. 3053 (115th) in the House.

Should one Nevada senator, Sen. Dean Heller (R-NV), be able to single-handedly stymie a bill that just passed the House 340–72? The Nuclear Waste Policy Amendments Act will put that question to the test, when or if the Senate acts on it.

Context

There are currently 121 sites containing nuclear waste, located in 39 states. Where should all the nation’s nuclear waste go?

Many who have studied the issue believe the sites should be combined by all the nation’s waste being shipped and stored to one single site: Nevada’s Yucca Mountain, a fairly remote area where — at least according to supporters — the health risk would be both consolidated and minimal.

The move was officially announced as far back as 1987 with a 1998 deadline, but the project has been scrapped, restarted, and delayed for more than three decades now. That was in no small part due to the influence of longtime head Senate Democrat Harry Reid, who did much to stop or stall the project for two decades straight.

What the bill does

The Nuclear Waste Policy Amendments Act would officially mark Nevada’s Yucca Mountain as the nation’s nuclear waste repository, once and for all.

It was introduced in June 2017 by Rep. John Shimkus (R-IL15), chair of the House Energy and Commerce Committee’s Environment Subcommittee. It’s numbered H.R. 3053.

What supporters say

Supporters argue the bill addresses a problem which has only compounded in its severity since the 1980s, and affects the vast majority of U.S. states.

“It’s long past time for the federal government to keep its 35-year-old promise to taxpayers, ratepayers, and communities across the country to permanently dispose of spent nuclear fuel and defense waste. The [bill] is a commonsense step in that direction” Shimkus said in a press release. “We are committed to helping the 121 communities in 39 states with nuclear waste sitting around get the permanent storage facility up and running.”

What opponents say

Opponents say the bill is dangerous both environmentally and financially, and tramples on Nevada’s state rights.

“Beyond the breach of state sovereignty and the disregard for the will of the local population, the Yucca Mountain proposal poses significant health and safety risks and potentially catastrophic financial risks that must be addressed before — and not after — the proposal moves forward, should it move forward at all,” Heller wrote in a letter to the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Energy and Water Development.

“To date, however, Nevadans have not received any assurances from the NRC [National Regulatory Commission] that their concerns will receive the process and consideration they are due under existing law,” Heller continued. “I strongly believe that content-based siting represents the best of both worlds: It provides a viable means of addressing our nation’s nuclear waste problem while respecting the sovereignty of states to object to becoming a nuclear waste dump.”

House vote in favor

The bill first attracted 109 bipartisan House cosponsors: 88 Republicans and 21 Democrats. It passed in committee by 49–4 in June 2017.

The full House voted in favor 340–72 in May 2018. Democrats were 119–67 in favor, while Republicans were 221–5. All four of Nevada’s House members voted against: three Democrats and one Republican.

Odds of passage

While such overwhelming vote totals in the House might indicate likely passage in the Senate, think again. Sen. Dean Heller (R-NV) has stated that his home state will be so damaged by the bill that he will single-handedly stop it.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is highly unlikely to bring up the bill for a vote at all, in order to protect Heller — considered one of the Senate’s most vulnerable Republicans up for reelection this year. Even House lead sponsor Shimkus acknowledged a Senate vote is unlikely.

“Without my leadership in the United States Senate, Yucca Mountain will get the green light. That’s because no one else can stop this; the House of Representatives has repeatedly attempted to bring nuclear waste to Nevada, but each time they’ve hit a brick wall only because I’ve stonewalled their action,” Sen. Heller said in a press release.

“[This] stunt is no different — this bill is dead on arrival to the U.S. Senate. Plain and simple. Not only will I place a hold on the bill immediately, I will object to the motion to proceed and stop this proposal at every procedural turn.”

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Totals

All Votes R D
Aye 83%
 
 
340
221
 
119
 
No 17%
 
 
72
5
 
67
 
Not Voting
 
 
16
9
 
7
 

Passed. Simple Majority Required. Source: house.gov.

Ideology Vote Chart

Key:
Republican - Aye Democrat - Aye Republican - No Democrat - No
Seat position based on our ideology score.

Cartogram Map

Each hexagon represents one congressional district. Dark shaded hexes are Aye votes.

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Vote Details

Notes: The Speaker’s Vote?
The Speaker of the House is not required to vote in “ordinary legislative proceedings, except when such vote would be decisive.” In practice, this means the Speaker of the House rarely votes and only does so when it is politically useful. When the Speaker declines to vote, he or she is simply omitted from the roll call by the House Clerk. (See House Rules, Rule I(7).)
“Aye” or “Yea”?

“Aye” and “Yea” mean the same thing, and so do “No” and “Nay”. Congress uses different words in different sorts of votes.

The U.S. Constitution says that bills should be decided on by the “yeas and nays” (Article I, Section 7). Congress takes this literally and uses “yea” and “nay” when voting on the final passage of bills.

All Senate votes use these words. But the House of Representatives uses “Aye” and “No” in other sorts of votes.

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Statistically Notable Votes

Statistically notable votes are the votes that are most surprising, or least predictable, given how other members of each voter’s party voted and other factors.

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Study Guide

How well do you understand this vote? Use this study guide to find out.

You can find answers to most of the questions below here on the vote page. For a guide to understanding the bill this vote was about, see here.

What was the procedure for this vote?

  1. What was this vote on?

    2. Not all votes are meant to pass legislation. In the Senate some votes are not about legislation at all, since the Senate must vote to confirm presidential nominations to certain federal positions.

    This vote is related to a bill. However, that doesn’t necessarily tell you what it is about. Congress makes many decisions in the process of passing legislation, such as on the procedures for debating the bill, whether to change the bill before voting on passage, and even whether to vote on passage at all.

    You can learn more about the various motions used in Congress at EveryCRSReport.com. If you aren’t sure what the House was voting on, try seeing if it’s on this list.

  2. What is the next step after this vote?

    3. Take a look at where this bill is in the legislative process. What might come next? Keep in mind what this specific vote was on, and the context of the bill. Will there be amendments? Will the other chamber of Congress vote on it, or let it die?

    For this question it may help to briefly examine the bill itself.

What is your analysis of this vote?

  1. What trends do you see in this vote?

    2. Members of Congress side together for many reasons beside being in the same political party, especially so for less prominent legislation or legislation specific to a certain region. What might have determined how the roll call came out in this case? Does it look like Members of Congress voted based on party, geography, or some other reason?

    One tool that will be helpful in answering this question is the cartogram at the top of the page. A cartogram is a stylized map of the United States that shows each district as an identical hexagon. This view allows you to see the how the representatives from each district voted arranged by their geography and colored by their political party. What trends can you see in the cartogram for this vote?

  2. How did your representative vote?

    3. There is one vote here that should be more important to you than all the others. These are the votes cast by your representative, which is meant to represent you and your community. Do you agree with how your representative voted? Why do you think they voted the way they did?

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