Ranking Member DeLauro Opening Remarks at the Fiscal Year 2027 Energy and Water Development Appropriations Full Committee Markup

WASHINGTON – House Appropriations Committee Ranking Member Rosa DeLauro (D-CT-03) delivered the following remarks during the full committee markup of the fiscal year 2027 Energy and Water Development and Related Agencies funding bill:

Thank you to my friend Chairman Cole, Chairman Fleischmann, and Ranking Member Kaptur. 

I also want to thank the committee staff, Scott McKee, Ippo Dellatolas, and Adam Wilson, for the Minority side, and Laura Cylke, Perry Yates, Corey Kuipers, and Raynor Buckley on the Majority, for their work on this effort.

I oppose the bill we are considering today. It will make energy more expensive, from gasoline to electricity for homes and businesses, while families struggle to keep up with the rising cost of living. It will set us back, even as our adversaries invest in the technology of the future. It will jeopardize national security by weakening our efforts to stop the spread of nuclear weapons. And it will leave our communities vulnerable to radioactive waste leftover from our nation’s atomic weapons program.

Recently, President Trump said, and I quote, “I don’t think about Americans’ financial situation.” Let me tell you: it shows. It reveals just how out of touch this administration is. And how out of touch the president is. 

His war in Iran has pushed gas prices up by 40 percent. Since he took office, household electric bills have risen by as much as 13 percent nationally, while prices for residential natural gas have gone up by 12 percent. In April, prices rose faster than wages for the first time since 2023. The bill before us today does not address these problems. In fact, it will make many of them worse.

To bring prices down, we need to produce more energy. That is simple supply and demand. But this bill cuts back on investments that support the production of new energy. For example: it guts funding for the Department of Energy’s Critical Minerals and Energy Innovation program by $1.3 billion – that is a 40 percent cut.

This slows us down while our adversaries race ahead, in the contest for energy independence. It looks backwards as our competitors are pressing forwards. And by limiting the amount of new energy we can produce, it ensures costs will not come down anytime soon.

To meet the challenges of the future, we need to be creative. We need to innovate; conduct research; and find solutions to problems before they erupt into crises. 

That is exactly what the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Energy does. But this bill proposes cutting their funding by $50 million – that’s 14 percent cut. There is no better way to ensure we are unprepared for the future than by choosing to stumble into it blindly.

This bill threatens our national security by cutting funding for the Nuclear National Security Administration’s account for Defense Nuclear Nonproliferation by $282 million, or 12 percent. This hampers our efforts to track down, secure, and dispose of material that can be used to develop a nuclear weapon. It makes it harder for us to stop the most dangerous weapons humanity has ever known from falling into the wrong hands.

It is shocking that this cut is being proposed as the President pursues his costly war with Iran under the pretense of preventing nuclear proliferation. We had an agreement with Iran that prevented them from acquiring the bomb. It was slowing down Iran’s ability to build a nuclear weapon. It was called the Join Comprehensive Plan of Action, the JCPOA. It made nuclear breakout harder, more visible, and more costly. And there, to date, has been no replacement for that framework. 

The President has also told us in this war the Iran’s nuclear capability has been obliterated. The American people should not be fooled by the continued assertion of the president that this war is about nuclear proliferation. But I guess if you say the same thing over and over and over again, you hope that people will come to believe it. But in fact they will not come to believe it.

In fact, the JCPOA was formulated over 20 months with overwhelming support from our allies. President Trump tore up that agreement. The American people should not be fooled by his rhetoric – this is a crisis he created. If we are serious about stopping the spread of nuclear weapons and material, why are we cutting funding to the program that does just that?

Additionally, this bill would put our communities at risk by impeding the cleanup of radioactive waste left over from America’s atomic weapons development. The Army Corps of Engineers has made progress managing the clean-up and control of these areas, but this bill eliminates all funding for their program, even as they still preside over 20 active sites. 

Lastly, the bill cuts the Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management by $863 million, or 10 percent. This slows down cleanup at some of the most complicated radioactive sites across the country – at Hanford in Washington State, Savannah River in South Carolina, Oak Ridge in Tennessee, and the Idaho National Laboratory.

At a time when Americans are struggling to navigate rapidly rising costs; when our adversaries are increasing their investments in the future; and when our communities remain burdened by the hazardous remnants of atomic weapons; this bill fails to meet the moment.

I encourage my colleagues to vote no on this measure, and to work together on a bipartisan basis to craft an agreement that supports our communities, protects national security, and invests in the future.

Thank you and I yield back.

A summary of the bill is here. A fact sheet is here. The text of the bill is here. 

Watch the full committee markup here.

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