"Senate appropriators have introduced a $35 billion energy and water spending bill that would not fund a nuclear waste depository at Nevada’s Yucca Mountain.

But the Republican senator behind the bill says he is not giving up on funding the project this session, floating the possibility that it could come to the floor as an amendment.

'Putting an end to our decades-long nuclear waste stalemate will involve completing Yucca Mountain,' said Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.), the chairman of the Appropriations Committee’s energy and water panel. 'I look forward to an open amendment process in the U.S. Senate and to working with the House to remove obstacles to nuclear power.'"

Devin Henry reports for The Hill May 18, 2015. [2]