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WASHINGTON — The Bush administration gave Sen. Pete Domenici some negotiating strength to defend the budgets of New Mexico's two nuclear weapons and science laboratories.

Under the spending plan for the next fiscal year, Sandia National Laboratories would see a $25.3 million increase, to $1.42 billion, while Los Alamos National Laboratory would face a relatively small cut of $14.5 million, to $1.83 billion.

Included in the Los Alamos plan is money for a new plutonium pit production facility.

Overall, the Department of Energy budget grows 4.7 percent, despite the administration's plan announced less than two months ago to shrink the nation's nuclear weapons work force by up to 30 percent and to close more than 600 buildings.

But Domenici, an Albuquerque Republican who is not seeking re-election, knows the Bush budget is just a wish list.

"The budget is good overall for the labs, and should work to put them on stable footing. We will have to be vigilant of proposals that could again throw the labs' work into crisis," said Domenici.

He was referring to action last year by the House Appropriations Committee to slash the energy department budget by $600 million, with particular emphasis on cuts at Los Alamos.

The Senate balked at the cuts, and the two chambers eventually compromised on a $218 million increase.

This year, Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman will argue for an overall increase of more than $1 billion, to $25 billion. Of that, $6.6 billion would go to the National Nuclear Security Administration for its weapons and stockpile stewardship programs — a $320.6 million increase.

Bodman and NNSA Administrator Thomas D'Agostino said Monday that it would cost money initially to consolidate missions at eight administration labs and plants under their proposed 10-year plan.

"We are setting a path to eventually to reduce the number of nuclear weapons and the footprint of the weapons facilities by 9 million square feet," said Bodman. "That is the equivalent of seven Pentagons. So it is a very sizable undertaking."

The Los Alamos budget is cut slightly in the budget, but it includes $100 million to continue construction of a new manufacturing center to make plutonium pits, the triggers for nuclear warheads.

The Los Alamos facility would replace pit production work at Lawrence Livermore Laboratory, which is surrounded by California suburbs, and at an aging "unsafe" facility in Los Alamos, said D'Agostino.

But critics contend the new pit plant — known officially as the Chemistry and Metallurgy Research Replacement project — is unnecessary.

Nuclear Watch New Mexico says the plant would increase pit production at Los Alamos from the current level of 20 per year to between 50 and 80. The group's executive director, Jay Coghlan, called the project a "money pit" that "wastes scarce resources when other urgent national security problems cry out to be met."

Bodman also linked the pit production plant to the department's continued interest in the reliable replacement warhead, which, despite Democrats' efforts last year to kill the program, is in the budget as a $10 million item for research on "concepts."

Senate Energy Committee Chairman Jeff Bingaman, a Silver City Democrat, said he's pleased to see the overall growth in the energy budget, especially an increase of $749 million, to $4.7 billion, for the American Competitiveness Initiative. The effort is something he championed with Domenici to increase spending on research in basic physical sciences.

But he objected to a proposal to eliminate a $220 million program that helps low-income families insulate their homes. Like other Democrats, Bingaman also dismissed proposed cuts of $178 billion in Medicare and $18 billion in Medicaid, and a variety of cuts to or outright elimination of other domestic programs.

"I cannot support his budget proposal," Bingaman said. "In my view it does a poor job of laying out what our nation's priorities should be."

Bingaman and Domenici both said they would seek to earmark funding for operations at Valles Caldera, which last year they targeted for $3.7 million. Bush proposed no funding for Valles Caldera and is vowing to veto bills with too many earmarks. The senators also said they would oppose cuts to New Mexico water projects.