Making It Easy to Export Uranium

Via Billmon, from the Washington Post:

A provision tucked into the 1,724-page energy bill that Congress is poised to enact today would ease export restrictions on bomb-grade uranium, a lucrative victory for a Canadian medical manufacturer and its well-wired Washington lobbyists.

The Burr Amendment -- named for its sponsor, Sen. Richard Burr (R-N.C.) -- would reverse a 13-year-old U.S. policy banning exports of weapons-grade uranium unless the recipients agree to start converting their reactors to use less-dangerous uranium. The Senate rejected the measure last month after critics in both parties warned that it would accelerate the worldwide proliferation of nuclear materials, but a House-Senate conference committee agreed this week to include it in the final bill.

To be fair, at least one Democrat -- Blanche Lincoln -- supported lifted the export ban, and at some Republicans opposed it. Still, the GOP leadership put this back in the bill, and they deserve to be held responsible for this appalling measure.