Ranking Member Marcy Kaptur Statement at the Subcommittee Markup of the 2027 Energy and Water Development Funding Bill

Thank you Mr. Chairman, thank you for your gracious Chairmanship of this Committee and, every Member who is here. We have almost a full Committee present and we're here to mark up the Fiscal 2027 Energy and Water Development Appropriations Bill. Chairman Fleischmann, please know I truly enjoy working with you, you're a man of your word. And to all of our colleagues, we're all friends. 

To develop what we hope could be a bipartisan bill. This has long been this Committee's, this Subcommittee’s practice. So I have to say, I'm a bit disappointed that with this worthy objective, we have engaged in a rather partisan process. And I hope, as the future dawns and soon we can course correct with your leadership and our strong, working partnership, both together and with the Members on both sides of the aisle here. 

Let me thank our diligent staff on both sides for all their hard work from the minority staff Scott McKee, Ippo Dellatolas, and Adam Wilson, and on my personal staff, Jed Bullock, and Margaret McInnis. I really want to thank them all they’re really fine, honest people. Turning to the substance of the bill, US energy independence must be our objective.

We've not had it in my entire lifetime, and we're not moving it to the future as fast as we should. The US national security requires US energy security. I'm going to say that again. US national security requires US energy security. The current bill before us must be adapted to better meet the growing energy challenges before our nation, and the cost of that energy to our people. 

My strong view is that a bipartisan compromise can be crafted, and it's going to take a little more work. Unique challenges here at home face all of us. We are living again in an historical moment in which energy and war are hyperlinked. Global disruptions and oil routes rooted in the Middle East are causing our economy to nosedive. And I have a chart, I'm going to ask Scott to hold up. 

Due to President Trump's war of choice on Iran, gas prices have already risen to average $4.50 per gallon. We have a chart, one that shows going back about 40 years. I served President Jimmy Carter in the White House when that horrible, horrible moment came in American history, and we really haven't recovered fully from that. 

You can see as gas prices rise, we always come into recession. We are already in one. It's going to get worse. Our citizenry is suffering from rising costs for everything, for transportation, for fuel, for heating, for electricity, and we as a country are still mired in the past. Further new AI and data facilities are causing energy and water prices to skyrocket for local ratepayers. 

There's hardly been a hearing in the Congress on this issue, and I can tell you in my part of the country, it is radioactive, and I would venture to say probably in yours. A fair energy cost structure must attend to these mammoth facilities and help local ratepayers. We, as a Congress have an obligation, as the future dawns, to make sure that we defend our people. 

The imperative of US energy independence should be clear. I cannot compliment enough those folks across our country who work on creating sound, clean, competitive advances in fusion energy, in thermal energy, in nuclear energy, in clean energy, and in many new forms of energy that are arising from the creativity and innovation of the American people in biofuels, in building materials, in geothermal and in energy conservation. 

I was going to ask Scott to hold up a second chart. That has to do with the cost of war and most of the recent wars in which we have been engaged have oil at the very basis. And if you look back 40, 50 years in our country's history, the cost of our dependance on fuels that have a connection to global supplies caused the kind of situation that we are enduring right now, and our people are enduring in this country. 

So it's really important that we reach a bipartisan agreement, because we have amassed Trillions and Trillions and Trillions of dollars of debt on wars that root in oil Kingdoms and disrupt global supplies. America cannot be, continue to be in this position to be so vulnerable, and we need competitiveness in the energy sector. So we can't just depend on one sector.

We have to play the piano on many keys. First, there must be a revision in balances of top line funding between the defend the non-defense funding in this bill, which supports domestic energy and water programs versus defense funding. That is my first deep concern about this bill to date. Defense programs are increased by $774 Million, which is 2% over last year, while non-defense programs are cut by $1.8 Billion, or 6%. 

This imbalance needs correction because that is where innovation lies in the part of the bill that has been cut. The most harmful cuts in this bill include a $1.3 Billion cut, or 40%, to critical materials and energy innovation. I invite you all to my district to see innovation in the energy field. You will not believe it when you see it.

This side of the aisle seeks no less than $3.1 Billion to accelerate US strategic interests to meet global competition for a clean energy future. A $50 Million cut also is in the base bill, or 14%, to the Advanced Research Projects Agency on Energy. That's where we need to invest. We can't live in the past. We seek no less than $350 Million for critical research into transformative energy technologies. 

A $25 Million cut sits in the base bill for electricity and grid deployment programs. Friends, we have an old grid all over the country. We seek no less than $260 Million for these activities to drive down the cost of electricity, which are doubling for the constituents that I represent, and I would dare say probably you as well. We can't live in the past. 

A $252 Million cut, or 12%, occurs in this bill for nuclear nonproliferation activities. We seek no less than $2.367 Billion to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons and detect covert nuclear threats worldwide. Finally, a total 100% elimination of funding for the Army Corps Formerly Utilized Sites Remedial Action Program, FUSRAP is unacceptable, period. We seek no less than $200 Million for this program to continue cleaning up contaminated sites.

Why would we not want to do that fully as soon as we can? Resulting from our nation's early atomic energy program. And further, the bill cuts other programs that would need adjustments addressed. Critically, the bill should only repurpose funds from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, if the changes are bipartisan and embrace an all of the above energy strategy, that means supporting a diverse portfolio of technologies like geothermal, electric grid upgrades, fusion, and advanced nuclear. 

And I note how committed the Chairman is to that, and let me end with this. This bill must also be free of riders, including provisions that allow firearms on Corps of Engineers public lands, prohibit clean energy solutions for new and renovated federal buildings, and prohibit funds for private consolidated interim storage of commercial spent nuclear fuel. And finally, the glaringly the bill is missing key provision necessary to protect Congress' power of the purse.

Any bill we move forward must include a provision to prevent and reverse the Department of Energy's project terminations to date. On the record, let me say DOE has terminated over $9 Billion for more than 300 projects nationwide, duly authorized, appropriated and passed by former Congress’ and signed by Presidents. Finally, the bill should include commonsense provisions providing transparency and accountability for how federal agencies spend the funds Congress provides.

Unfortunately, until these changes are made, I must urge my colleagues to oppose the bill in its current form. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Let's try to work together to improve it as it moves forward and meets the new age frontiers of energy and water. That requires an improved bill. I yield back.

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