Two New Mexico Congressional delegation members on Thursday helped lead a letter with other Democratic lawmakers demanding the federal government reverse its decision to furlough federal workers overseeing nuclear weapons work and stockpile.
On Monday, U.S. Department of Energy Secretary Chris Wright confirmed 1,400 employees across the nation had been furloughed as part of the ongoing federal government shutdown that began Oct. 1.
As Source reported on Wednesday, those employees included 152 National Nuclear Security Agency workers in New Mexico, leaving only 14 employees split between the NNSA’s Los Alamos and Sandia National Laboratories locations. The furloughs are the agency’s first since its creation in 2000, and none occurred during previous shutdowns.
Democratic U.S. Reps. Melanie Stansbury and Teresa Leger Fernández, representing the 1st and 3rd congressional districts respectively, signed an Oct. 23 letter, along with Reps. Eric Swalwell from California, Dina Titus from Nevada and more than 20 other members of Congress.
The letter, addressed to Wright and NNSA Administrator Brandon Williams, asks for an explanation of why more NNSA employees were not kept on as essential workers, “given the gravity of their duties” in overseeing the nuclear weapons stockpile and nonproliferation work overseas.
“Furloughing the vast majority of the agency’s personnel is not only an unprecedented step, it is deeply harmful to U.S. national security,” the letter states. “Undermining the agency’s workforce at such a challenging time for U.S. global leadership diminishes our credible deterrence, emboldens our international adversaries, and makes the world a more dangerous place.”
Other questions the letter asks to be answered by Nov. 7 include the administration’s legal basis for furloughing NNSA staff, along with an accounting for the total numbers of staff furloughed and remaining on duty.
“Congress has a right to know exactly how much more dangerous our lives are now that you have sent the vast majority of NNSA’s staff home,” the letter states.
The letter, which notes the unprecedented nature of the NNSA furloughs, concludes with a request that the agency reverse its decision.
“We urgently demand that you rescind this furlough notice and return NNSA employees to the important job of ensuring our nuclear stockpile is safe, secure, and reliable.”
