A six-month spending bill that House lawmakers released last night would keep funded through November a divisive uranium-enrichment program in the election swing state of Ohio.

The continuing resolution would provide $100 million for the American Centrifuge Plant in the village of Piketon, where Bethesda, Md.-based U.S. Enrichment Corp. (USEC) is operating a gas-centrifuge demonstration project.

The House Rules Committee will consider the legislation tomorrow and could debate the measure Thursday.

USEC entered into a $350 million cooperative agreement with the Energy Department this summer and has so far received $110 million to run the plant through November. Ultimately, the company hopes to commercialize the technology and secure a $2 billion DOE loan guarantee (E&E Daily, Sept. 11).

USEC spokesman Paul Jacobson said the House bill would provided a much-needed boost for the project but isn't sufficient to "bring the program to completion."

Support for USEC has been at the center of a contentious debate, with Energy Secretary Steven Chu and a host of bipartisan lawmakers arguing that the plant is key to national security and nonproliferation, and that the United States must have an indigenous source of uranium enrichment.

Critics such as former Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham, however, say USEC has been beset by technical problems and that the company is about to enter a market that will be flush with supply (E&E Daily, July 10).