mr. chairman , the measure before us today -- the appropriations act for energy and water development -- joins the early wave of discretionary spending bills pursuant to the recently adopted budget resolution for fiscal year 2006 ( h. con .  res. 95 ) .  as the name suggests , this bill provides for the nation 's energy and water development needs , with funding for all of the department of energy , and select activities of the departments of defense and the interior , including the corps of engineers and the bureau of reclamation .  while the government 's overall energy strategy is now being discussed in a conference on h.r. 6 , the bill before us today provides a vital additional component of the nation 's energy policies .  as chairman of the budget committee , i am pleased to note that this bill complies with the budget resolution , and also reflects a responsible set of budgetary choices .  although the appropriations committee provided more funding that the president in certain areas , they still achieved a modest but real reduction in total spending for this bill , compared with fiscal year 2005 .  h.r. 2419 provides $ 29.7 billion in appropriations for fiscal year 2006 .  this is $ 410 million , or 1.3 percent , below the fiscal year 2005 level , and equal to the president 's request .  the bill complies with section 302 ( f ) of the budget act , which prohibits consideration of bills in excess of an appropriations subcommittee 's 302 ( b ) allocation of budget authority in the budget resolution .  the bill provides $ 23.8 billion in discretionary ba to the department of energy [ doe ] , a reduction of $ 390 million from the 2005 enacted level .  within the department , ba is reduced from the 2005 level by 2.6 percent for environmental and other defense activities ( $ 203 million ) , and 4 percent for the national nuclear security administration ( $ 365 million ) .  but for energy programs , the bill provides a slight increase of 1.3 percent , or $ 98 million .  h.r. 2419 provides $ 661 million for the yucca mountain repository , an increase of $ 84 million above 2005 and $ 10 million over the president 's request .  funding for the department of the interior totals $ 933 million and discretionary spending for the bureau of reclamation holds flat relative to 2005 .  for the corps of engineers , the committee provided $ 4.7 billion , or $ 396 million over the president 's request , primarily through additional construction and operations and maintenance spending , which together make up two-thirds of total corps of engineers spending .  also , the appropriations committee rejected an initiative to directly fund the operations and maintenance costs through the power marketing associations ' revenues .  h.r. 2419 does not contain any emergency-designated ba , which is exempt from budgetary limits .  while the budget resolution for fiscal year 2006 , h. con .  res. 95 , did allow for an advance appropriation in the elk hills account , the committee on appropriations provided for it with a current year appropriation .  the bill also defers $ 257 million in previously appropriated funds for the clean coal technology initiative until fiscal year 2007 , providing $ 257 million in ba savings for 2006 , and an equal increase in 2007 .  the administration proposed a rescission of this amount .  additionally , the bill allows the nuclear regulatory commission [ nrc ] to recover 90 percent of its budget authority through licensing and annual fees , less the appropriation derived from the nuclear waste fund .  this will recover a projected $ 581 million in fiscal year 2006 with remaining 10 percent , or $ 65 million , funded from the general fund of the treasury .  in conclusion , i would like to commend chairman lewis and the appropriations committee on their steady work in bringing bills to the floor that comply with h. con .  res. 95 and wish them continued success as they proceed through this appropriations season .  i therefore express my support for h.r. 2419 .  