Ranking Member Marcy Kaptur Statement at the Subcommittee Markup of the 2026 Energy and Water Development Funding Bill

Congresswoman Marcy Kaptur (D-OH-09), Ranking Member of the Energy and Water Development, and Related Agencies Appropriations Subcommittee, delivered the following remarks at the Subcommittee's markup of its fiscal year 2026 bill:

-As Prepared For Delivery-

Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. It is a pleasure to be here with you as we mark up the Fiscal Year 2026 Energy and Water Development bill. Chairman Fleischmann, I appreciate working with you, and our colleagues, to develop and pass bipartisan bills, as has long been this committee’s practice. I am truly saddened that this vital subcommittee is being steered yet again to return to a partisan process for this Fiscal Year 2026 House bill.

I would like to thank our diligent staff for all their hard work on this bill. From the Minority staff, Scott McKee, Anisha Singh, and Adam Wilson. And on my personal staff, Kaitlin Ulin, TJ Lowdermilk and Margaret McInnis. Thank you all.
Energy and water undergird America’s way of life. They are not optional — but essential to sustaining life.

We are reminded about our purpose — especially as related to water resource development — by the extreme flash flooding that occurred in Texas, resulting in the unnecessary and tragic loss of over 100 lives, with at least 160 missing. So many children, so many counselors, just a terrible American tragedy. Deadly West Virginia flash flooding this past month significantly damaged over 100 homes unfortunately taking the lives of at least seven people, including a nine-year-old in Valley Grove, West Virginia, and by the way, a member of our full committee represents that community. We’ve also seen flooding events in central North Carolina, and New Mexico. Our hearts go out to the families of the victims.
Let me be clear, no matter how much the members on the other side of the aisle want to pretend that the climate isn’t changing, for the record, the last 10 years are the 10 hottest in recorded history! These floods are made worse by that. We had four 1,000 year floods last week alone. Think about that.

It is our duty to prepare our communities and people.  

We need to build resilient infrastructure. My home in the city of Toledo has spent billions of dollars to fund new sewers and vast underground catchment basins. We are making investments all over our district to protect the Lake Erie shoreline. And in places where infrastructure investments aren’t cost effective, we need to make sure that families will be protected with adequate warning systems! 

I, for one, have brought funding for tornado sirens to my district and built a new border patrol station to protect and defend our people. We zone to prevent flooding from threatening human life.

It is our job as public servants to dedicate ourselves to addressing the structural shortcomings at the federal, state, and local level that contributed to the loss of life.

Sadly, this Republican Energy and Water bill does not meet our nation’s imperative for the future. America must become energy independent in perpetuity. In a nation of 350 million people, we must make energy cost less — especially as grid resilience is undermined.

This bill fails to address the cost-of-living crisis and instead will result in higher energy bills for families and businesses. China is investing record levels in energy, but this bill retreats from U.S. global leadership in the future diversified and clean energy economy.

This Energy and Water bill cuts $1.6 billion — or 47 percent — from the Department of Energy’s Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy programs. These are vital to delivering clean, affordable, and secure energy to the American people — and to ensuring our nation leads, not lags, in the global race toward an affordable clean energy future. 

Our dad and mom taught us how to be thrifty and not wasteful. Dad used to say, “it’s not how much you make, it’s how much you save.” Energy and fresh water conservation are good goals for the future of our children and grandchildren.

We have made great strides towards energy independence as a country. The United States is producing more oil than ever before — record-high production levels. But we are still tethered to a volatile global energy market dominated by cartels and petroleum dictators like OPEC.

China intends to be the OPEC for the next century—one which will be dominated by clean energy. More wind turbines and solar panels were installed last year than in the rest of the world combined. A Chinese company has developed an EV battery that can travel 1,800 miles in a single charge and be recharged in just five minutes. 

Any bill that passes out of our Committee must not cede the energy future to China. That currently is leading both domestically and internationally.

Now, this Energy and Water bill slashes the Department of Energy’s vital programs. Why? It is all part of unfortunately some Republicans’ plan to cut programs that help all Americans so they can give more tax breaks to millionaires and billionaires in the Big Billionaire Bonanza Bill. We need to focus on building an economy that works for everyone — not just the wealthy few.

This bill revokes $5.1 billion of Bipartisan Infrastructure Law resources from the Department of Energy's programs. That means US ceding the global lead in hydrogen, direct air capture, battery recycling, and energy improvements in every public and private structure.

The bill also eliminates funding for the Office of Clean Energy Demonstrations. It undermines public-private partnerships that drive large-scale clean energy projects, speed deployment, and propel American industry to lead in the global clean energy economy.

In fact, US businesses have canceled more than $15 billion in investment in new factories and electricity projects here at home just this year as a result of the Bonanza for Billionaires Bill. Those canceled projects were expected to create nearly 12,000 new jobs — all gone now.

Thus, I oppose the Republicans’ cuts to vital energy production and conservation programs at the Department of Energy. Shortchanging these advances pushes our nation backwards — slow walking energy innovation and failing to modernize our nation’s energy grids. 

In other areas, this bill dangerously shortchanges our national security by slashing $412 million from the Defense Nuclear Nonproliferation account. This effectively guts our efforts to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons, detect covert nuclear threats, and uphold arms control agreements that keep us safe. All a big gift for Iran, Russia, China, and North Korea.

Additionally, this bill turns its back on communities still living with the toxic legacy of America’s atomic past. It zeroes out funding for the Army Corps’ program to clean up radioactive waste at early nuclear sites and slashes $779 million from the Department of Energy’s nuclear cleanup efforts — delaying the cleanup these communities have been promised for decades. I’ll note for the Committee that one of these sites, in the village of Luckey, Ohio, is a very short drive from my home.

Finally, the bill includes numerous controversial poison pill policy riders that sadly show extremists among us are not interested in bills that can gain bipartisan support and become law.

I urge my colleagues to oppose this bill. America can and must do so much better. America’s future relies on the new age frontiers of energy and water. 

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