House and Senate appropriations conferees yesterday finished work on a $30.5 billion fiscal year 2006 energy and water spending bill that includes funding for Energy Department nuclear weapons-related projects and national laboratories. Most of the money in the bill, yet to be approved by both chambers, is slated for DOE, to the tune of $24 billion, or $77 million more than President Bush requested in February, according to separate statements released this week by the House and Senate Appropriations committees...
