The additional money for cleanup of Hanford and other nuclear weapons sites across the nation has been reduced to $62.5 million in the Supplemental Appropriations bill for fiscal 2008.

That amount was agreed upon in a compromise reached by the U.S. House and Senate leadership. It was approved Thursday evening by the House, and is expected to be approved by the Senate next week.

Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., originally succeeded in getting $300 million for cleanup added to the bill, but that was reduced in an attempt to get the bill signed by the president.

The $62.5 million in the bill has not been divided among cleanup sites across the nation, which include Hanford.

Murray worked to add additional money to the bill for fiscal 2008 after the Bush administration proposed a reduced budget for DOE nuclear site cleanup for fiscal 2009. As proposed at $5.5 billion, the 2009 budget would require up to 600 people to be laid off. More than half of the layoffs could be at Hanford.

Murray had said the additional $300 million could save up to 600 jobs. The proposed fiscal 2009 budget of $5.5 billion is down from peak funding of $7.3 billion in fiscal 2005.

"Local jobs and critical cleanup deadlines have been put at risk at Hanford because of administration neglect," Murray said last month when she pushed for additional money in the supplemental bill.

Hastings agreed in a statement that the money is needed to "help prevent the layoff of skilled workers, continue cleanup progress and help fill in the gap left by the president's proposed budget cuts."

Earlier this week, in the House markup of the budget bill for next year, $221.5 million was added to the administration's request for fiscal 2009 funding for cleanup across the nation.