The President’s FY2011 budget proposal triples funding to the Department of Energy Loan Guarantee Program.  This includes $36 billion in new budget authority for Treasury-backed loan guarantees to the nuclear industry and $3-5 billion in loan guarantee authority for renewable and energy efficiency projects.  The DOE Loan Guarantee program currently has more than $50 billion in loan guarantee authority, $18.5 billion of which is earmarked for nuclear reactors, bringing the total available to nuclear reactors up to $54.5 billion.  With tens of billions of dollars in guarantee authority already available, providing the DOE with billions in additional loan guarantee authority is nothing more than a needless giveaway to the nuclear industry that puts billions of taxpayer dollars on the line.