WASHINGTON — A proposed uranium enrichment plant received a boost Tuesday when a Senate subcommittee agreed to include $150 million in a federal spending bill for research and development at the plant, located in Piketon about 90 miles southeast of Middletown.

The Senate Energy and Water Subcommittee included the money in its spending bill for fiscal 2013. Last week, a House subcommittee passed a similar measure, adding $100 million in a spending bill.

While supporters of the Piketon plant are heartened to see it receive support from both houses of Congress, one sticking point may be a deal killer: Neither Congress nor the White House has approved money for fiscal year 2012 for the plant — which may jeopardize its chances of moving forward.

Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, requested the 2013 money in the Senate bill.

Brown said he will work to make sure the plant has the resources it needs to succeed.

“But first things first,” he said. “The House must join the Senate in passing resources to keep (the plant) alive this year.”

Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, said he wants the Department of Energy to move forward with providing funding in fiscal 2012 for the plant despite the fact that Congress has yet to formally approve it.

“The agency can provide funding immediately through existing authorities, and I would urge them to do so before existing funding runs out and layoffs at the site begin,” he said.

But the White House has insisted that Congress first give it permission to transfer funds from one account to another.

Earlier this year, the Senate did just that, including $150 million in the highway bill for research and development for fiscal 2012 at the American Centrifuge Plant. But the House did not include the money in its version of the transportation bill.