Ranking Member DeLauro Statement at the Subcommittee Markup of the 2026 Energy and Water Development, and Related Agencies Funding Bill

Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro (D-CT-03), Ranking Member of the House Appropriations Committee, delivered the following remarks at the subcommittee markup of the 2026 Energy and Water Development, and Related Agencies funding bill:

Thank you for yielding. It is wonderful to be here with you today, Chairman Fleischmann, Chairman Cole, and Ranking Member Kaptur. Before I get started, let me share my appreciation for the subcommittee staff, especially Scott McKee, Anisha Singh, and Adam Wilson.

We have the opportunity – and the responsibility – through this subcommittee’s bill to make investments that lower energy costs for American families, promote America’s energy independence, and support American manufacturing. 

Those are the President’s goals, are they not? He promised to lower costs on day one. He promised energy independence and stronger manufacturing. I support those goals – but the President has done nothing to address the cost-of-living crisis, which he is actually making worse. And the majority’s bill will only take us backwards. 

I am opposed to the bill before this subcommittee because it will raise energy costs for American households and businesses, hurt our competitiveness, jeopardize our energy independence and weaken America’s national security. 

Never mind the fact that we have still not received a complete budget from the White House, we are holding this markup in a completely unprecedented time, with the Congress’s authority being challenged by a lawless Administration. 

Since taking office, the Trump Administration has stolen resources, appropriated by this committee, passed by Democrats and Republicans in the House and in the Senate, for programs and services across the federal government that help to grow the middle class, protect the working class, support small businesses, and make sure billionaires and corporations play by the rules and pay their fair share. 

The cost-of-living crisis is felt by every American family – middle class families, working families, rural families, seniors and other vulnerable Americans. 

But the president is not laser focused on the cost-of-living crisis. Instead, he put billionaires like Elon Musk in charge of the government. 

This Administration has attacked and destroyed programs created by Congress and funded by the Appropriations Committee that protect our national security and help increase domestic energy production. 

And among the stolen and frozen funding are dozens of programs within this bill.

Just last week, the Administration announced they are cutting investments Congress appropriated to support research and development for wind and solar energy production. That is in total defiance of the law – the full year continuing resolution, which President Trump himself signed in March.

This Administration has stolen funding from American manufacturers, canceling two dozen Department of Energy projects totaling over $3.7 billion, raising the cost of energy for families and businesses. 

And they pulled the rug out from under American families and businesses when they froze home energy rebates, electric grid programs, hydrogen hubs, battery manufacturing, industrial programs, weatherization assistance, and loan programs.

All of which Congress enacted and appropriated funding for in law. They are substituting Congress’ decisions and judgment with their own, turning Article I of the Constitution on its head.

These cuts are not numbers on a page – they are not only felt in Washington, DC. They affect all of our constituents.

Just a few months ago, states across New England, including my state of Connecticut, were ready to begin an ambitious and collaborative effort to increase energy transmission capacity across our region, to build resiliency and lower energy bills.

Nearly $400 million was going to be invested through the Department of Energy’s Grid Innovation Program to provide onshore connections for offshore wind power, improve the electric grid, and install energy storage through a project called Power Up New England. 

But the President’s Day One executive order abruptly halted offshore wind energy projects in their tracks, and the Department of Energy froze Power Up New England’s grant. That project was expected to bring enough energy online to power about 2 million homes, and reduce energy costs for customers by up to $1.5 billion per year.

Dan Dolan, president of the New England Power Generators Association, said, and I quote, “We are now having to do a fundamental reassessment on where else is large scale electricity supply growth going to come from…We are in massively uncharted territory with respect to energy policy.” End quote. The level of uncertainty and chaos now occurring is not an accident – it is a direct result of this Administration’s policies and lawlessness.

Energy demand is higher than ever and only increasing. Cheap, reliable energy is the basis of a modern economy. We have to increase energy supply or costs will continue to rise for the American people – and we will be dependent on importing energy to meet our goals. 

If you listen to the President, you might believe China does not invest in wind energy. If your listen to the facts, you will know that China leads the world in wind energy production by a substantial margin – and we are only falling further and further behind. 

Who will lead the clean energy future? America, or China? 

This Administration – and this bill – picks the latter.

Instead of focusing on ways to help lower energy costs, House Republicans are using this bill to further gut critical federal resources and advance their own agenda. 

Their cut of nearly half the budget for Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy is a direct attack on the programs that lower energy bills for working families, create good-paying jobs in our communities, and keep America competitive. 

Their bill revokes funding that supports hydrogen energy, battery recycling, and energy improvements in public schools, as well as support for public-private clean energy projects. This is not a red state or blue state issue. All of our constituents lose when we walk away from clean, affordable, domestically-produced energy. 

Their bill undermines the very programs that help us stop the spread of nuclear weapons, detect nuclear activity, and uphold arms control efforts that make America and the world safer – and it completely defunds efforts to clean up sites contaminated by our nation’s early atomic energy program. Weakening these programs at a time of growing global threats is irresponsible and dangerous, and an abandonment of American values. 

All of this mere days after Republicans passed and the President signed the Big Billionaire Bailout, a law that gives massive tax breaks to billionaires and the biggest corporations while driving up home energy bills for families by as much as 30 percent.

I cannot support this bill. Instead of working with Democrats to lower prices and invest in technology that promotes our energy independence, House Republicans are pushing a bill that raises energy costs for families and businesses, and eliminates good-paying jobs. 

We can and we must come together to improve this bill to help lower costs and support our country’s energy independence and national security. 

Thank you, and I yield back.

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