The House Appropriations Committee unveiled fiscal 2026 legislation Sunday with deep proposed cuts for the departments of Energy and Transportation.
The bills come during a busy week for appropriators in both chambers. The House on Monday plans to release its Interior-Environment, State Department and Commerce-Justice-Science bills. The Defense spending bill is due on the floor.
And in the Senate, lawmakers will be taking up President Donald Trump’s rescissions package with cuts to already appropriated international climate and environmental funding.
“We will continue to get the country back on a path to fiscal responsibility by rescissions packages that will come from the White House that we’ll enact, and claw back spending and eliminate fraud, waste and abuse in the multiple reconciliation packages, and in appropriating at lower levels of funding,” House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) said Sunday on Fox News.
Indeed, House Republicans’ Energy-Water spending bill aligns with Trump’s budget request in proposing to cut discretionary funding for programs with Democratic support.
House Appropriations ranking member Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.) quickly bashed the legislation as a “reckless and shortsighted proposal” that would increase energy costs.
The bill aims to boost funding for some bipartisan priorities such as advanced nuclear energy and critical mineral production. But it would also eliminate the Office of Clean Energy Demonstrations and zero out funding intended to help communities disproportionately impacted by pollution.
“I am proud that, in tight fiscal times where every dollar spent must be scrutinized, the Fiscal Year 2026 Energy and Water Development appropriations bill makes historic investments in our national security and nuclear deterrent, restores American energy production, and stops wasteful, unnecessary spending,” House Energy and Water Development Appropriations Subcommittee Chair Chuck Fleischmann (R-Tenn.) said in a statement Sunday.
The bill would appropriate $57.3 billion in discretionary funding, about $766 million below the currently enacted level. Fleischmann said it is “the product of close collaboration with the Trump Administration.”
The Army Corps of Engineers’ civil programs would receive about $9.9 billion, an increase of over $1 billion relative to current funding. The Bureau of Reclamation would get a small increase of about $5.7 million in proposed spending of nearly $1.9 billion. The bill also includes more than $900 million in water project earmarks.
The legislation would provide $48.8 billion for the Department of Energy, a cut of about $1.4 billion. More than half of the total — $25.3 billion — would go to the National Nuclear Security Administration, which would get a bump of almost $1.2 billion.
DOE’s civilian nuclear energy account would get a $110 million increase, including a raise for the Advanced Nuclear Fuel Availability program to help support production of the kind of fuel used by advanced reactors. The loan program office would also get more money for nuclear project financing.
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission would get higher funding — $27.4 billion — for the second year in a row. It comes amid increased administration involvement in the independent agency to promote the industry’s growth.
When it comes to nuclear waste, the legislation would prohibit new interim commercial storage that’s not approved by law or enjoys local consent.
The bill would also increase investment in geothermal energy, a source favored by Energy Secretary Chris Wright and congressional Republicans.
DOE’s Office of Science would see an increase of $160 million, but the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy, known as ARPA-E, would see its funding drop to $350 million, a $110 million reduction.
The Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy would get a massive $1.6 billion cut, which would amount to a 46 percent reduction. The White House budget plan would cut EERE by more than 70 percent.
The Office of Grid Deployment would see its $60 million budget reduced by more than half by the House, and the Office of Electricity would see a cut of almost 20 percent.
Republicans do not plan to spare the Office of Fossil Energy either. The bill would allocate $687.5 million to that office — a reduction of $177.5 million.
Funding would be shifted around to support research and development on critical minerals and fossil fuel generation technologies, according to a summary.
DOE’s environmental management and cleanup efforts, which Fleischmann had said he wanted to protect, would get $7.7 billion. The Office of the Inspector General would get a $4 million boost.
The legislation seeks to prevent petroleum sales to China from the federal stockpile. It also seeks to prevent DOE financing from benefiting foreign entities of concern.
Democrats said a rider would prevent agencies from issuing rules with an economic impact of more than $100 million. The provision is similar to the GOP’s “Regulations from the Executive in Need of Scrutiny (REINS) Act.”
Transportation cuts
The House fiscal 2026 Transportation-Housing and Urban Development bill would cut DOT by more than $3 billion below current levels and almost $5 billion less than the president’s request.
Authors said they focused on “redirecting $4.4 billion in wasteful Democratic priorities from the Infrastructure Investments and Jobs Act (IIJA) to instead invest in safety and improve the movement of freight and the traveling public.”
The Federal Aviation Administration would be a big winner, with a $2.3 billion hike to address persistent air traffic control problems, according to a summary.
But Democrats, in a summary of their own, said the bill would gut transit grants by 98 percent and zero out discretionary spending for Amtrak’s network.
A policy rider would also prohibit spending on California high-speed rail. Highways, rail, airports and maritime construction would get almost $4 billion more, Republicans said.
The Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration would get $362 million. The White House proposed $369 million and said it would be coupled with $200 million from the bipartisan infrastructure law.
Rep. Steve Womack (R-Ark.), chair of the House Appropriations Transportation-HUD Subcommittee, said his bill “ensures safe and efficient air travel, maintains access to housing for vulnerable Americans, bolsters critical military and civilian infrastructure while delivering targeted funding to help federal agencies better serve the American people while employing fiscal responsibility.”
The Senate has yet to release its Energy-Water or Transportation bills. However, lawmakers there are working on fiscal 2026 legislation on a bipartisan basis.
Senate action
The Senate Appropriations Committee last week advanced its Agriculture Department spending bill. Unlike the House, it bucks Trump’s demand for steep cuts.
The committee also tried to pass its Commerce-Justice-Science bill, but a dispute over the location of FBI headquarters thwarted the process. It may pick up again this week.
The panel will meet Thursday to mark up its Military Construction-Veterans Affairs bill, which could propose funding for environmental cleanups and climate resilience.
The most pressing spending issue in the Senate this week, however, will be the White House’s first proposal to claw back already appropriated dollars.
Debate around the $9.4 billion rescissions package has focused on international humanitarian aid and public media, but there are also cuts to climate and global environment efforts — including dollars to implement the Montreal Protocol.
Senate Appropriations Chair Susan Collins (R-Maine) is among the lawmakers who plan to seek amendments to the White House package.
In a Friday social media post, Trump warned senators not to oppose him. “It is very important that all Republicans adhere to my Recissions Bill and, in particular, DEFUND THE CORPORATION FOR PUBLIC BROADCASTING (PBS and NPR), which is worse than CNN & MSDNC put together,” he said. “Any Republican that votes to allow this monstrosity to continue broadcasting will not have my support or Endorsement.”
This week’s lineup
Schedule: The House Rules meeting on the Defense spending bill is Monday, July 14, at 4 p.m. in H-313 Capitol and via webcast.
Schedule: The House Appropriations subcommittee markup of the Transportation bill is Monday, July 14, at 5 p.m. in 2358-A Rayburn and via webcast.
Schedule: The House Appropriations subcommittee markup of the Energy-Water bill is Monday, July 14, at 6 p.m. in H-140 Capitol and via webcast.
Schedule: The House Appropriations subcommittee markup of the Interior-EPA bill is Tuesday, July 15, at 10 a.m. in 2358-C Rayburn and via webcast.
Schedule: The House Appropriations subcommittee markup of the State Department bill is Tuesday, July 15, at 11 a.m. in 2358-A Rayburn and via webcast.
Schedule: The House Appropriations subcommittee markup of the Commerce-Justice-Science bill is Tuesday, July 15, at 12 p.m. in 2362-B Rayburn and via webcast.
Schedule: The Senate Appropriations markup of the Military Construction-Veterans Affairs bill is Thursday, July 17, at 9:30 a.m. in 106 Dirksen and via webcast.
Schedule: The House Appropriations markup of the Transportation and Energy-Water bills is Thursday, July 17, at 10 a.m. in 2359 Rayburn and via webcast.
