[All_jlab_accounts] Secretary Moniz Statement

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Dear Colleagues,

As you know, the President has now signed H.R. 2775 into law, providing 
funding for the federal government to January 15, 2014 and extending the 
debt ceiling to February 7, 2014. After more than two weeks of disrupted 
mission, stress to families, furloughs, and uncertainty, Congress has 
finally provided funding for the start of fiscal year 2014 (FY14).

This has been a challenging time for all of us. While the nature of DOE 
funding enabled much of the Department to continue operating for a short 
period of time into FY14, we felt major impacts on our operations, from 
the EIA being shuttered briefly to large workforce reductions at nuclear 
cleanup sites and scaled down operations in the nuclear weapons 
production complex. Throughout all of it, everyone in the DOE family 
across the country handled this difficult situation with patience, 
professionalism, and an unparalleled commitment to safety and security. 
We are tremendously proud of all of you for your dedication to mission 
and country through this stressful period.

The good news is that the federal government can finally get back to 
work for the American people. Unfortunately, Congress has only provided 
an interim solution. In the coming days, we will be working closely with 
our partners across the complex — Assistant Secretaries and Office 
Directors, lab directors, site office managers, et al. — to learn from 
the preceding weeks so we can better prepare in case we have to go down 
this difficult road again. As always, we hope it does not come to that, 
but this recent experience has shown that we must do contingency 
planning in order to make sure we can safely and securely protect our 
people and property even in the absence of funding.

Again, we want to thank all of you for your patience and positive 
attitude during this trying time. Many people worked extraordinarily 
long hours to manage the Department's effort during this lapse in 
appropriations. We in particular want to recognize the leadership and 
staff in CFO, GC, HC, and MA for their dedication, energy, and 
coordination during this time. Many others deserve our thanks, and as 
always, it is an honor to work with all of you.

Sincerely,

Secretary Moniz and Deputy Secretary Poneman