U.S. nuclear stockpile hit with shutdown furloughs

For the first time since its formation in 2000, the National Nuclear Security Administration was forced to furlough 1,400 employees working at its various sites throughout the U.S. Only 400 are left working across the country.

The NNSA did not respond to a request for comment by The Center Square as to which employees were deemed “mission critical,” as Wright said, and which were not during the agency’s slimmed-down operations.

“We’ve never furloughed workers in the NNSA. This should not happen,” Wright told reporters. “But this was as long as we could stretch the funding for the federal workers.”

Furloughed employees are sent home and left without pay until after the shutdown. Separately, contracted workers are not able to be furloughed and will go unpaid when the money set aside for them goes dry.

“These are jobs of great gravity,” said Wright of the contracted workers. “We need to maintain our nuclear stockpile, have our adversaries confident that we have our stuff together.” 

Wright said most of the Department of Energy workers at the Nevada Nuclear Security Site – over 3,000 – are contracted employees, with wages covered only through the end of the month.

Wright added that the department was “able to do some gymnastics” to keep contracted work paid through the month. But he said a prolonged shutdown could pose larger issues. “If people are out of work too long, they go get other jobs. That’s a loss to our country. That’s a loss to those families.”

The furlough announcement comes three weeks into the second longest government shutdown in U.S. history. The longest shutdown started in 2018 during President Donald Trump’s first administration and lasted 35 days.

The Nevada Department of Employment, Training and Rehabilitation said more than 22,000 federal employees work in Nevada. The NNSA’s parent department, the Department of Energy, had already furloughed 59% of its 13,812 employees last week, according to a report from the New York Times.

The NNSA and employees at the Nevada National Security Site work in a variety of roles related to the U.S. nuclear stockpile. The agency transports nuclear weapons, protects from attempted misuse by terrorist organizations, and works to modernize and improve the country’s capabilities and safety protocols for its nuclear weapons.

The government shutdown has faced 11 attempted resolutions by the Republican Party, with the Democratic Party holding out for renewed health care tax credits. The Congressional Budget Office estimated that 4 million people would be uninsured if the credits expire. The office also said the credits could cost the U.S. as much as $350 billion over the next ten years.

“We’ve had bipartisan votes and majority votes in both the house and the senate to keep our government open,” said Wright. Later that same day, the 11th vote to reopen the government failed with a 50-43 vote in favor. Sixty yea votes are needed for the measure to pass. 

Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto of Nevada was the only Democrat to vote in favor of the 11th resolution. Sen. Jacky Rosen, the Democrat who serves as Nevada's other U.S. senator, abstained from her vote on the 10th resolution. She voted in opposition on the 11th.

“Sen. Cortez Masto, I thank her for her courage and for standing with our workers here in Nevada and with our country’s national security,” said Wright. Of Rosen he said, “I think she wants to vote with us. I think she’s going to be part of reopening the government.”

Wright later added, “I plead to Sen. Rosen – who has stood for these workers and has stood for the importance of our nuclear security – to move her vote from 'abstain' to in favor of continuing the funding.”

The energy secretary also said his department, which employs about 100,000 contractors, would have to start laying off those employees in droves.

“This is among the most critical workers in our country,” said Wright. “They test, maintain and ultimately construct the modernized version of our nuclear stockpile. We need to take that deathly serious.”