▶ 0:05:59Committee on energy and water development and related agencies will come to order. I'd like to welcome everyone to the subcommittee. Markup of the fiscal year 2027 energy and water development and related agencies. Appropriations bills. I'm pleased to be joined by subcommittee ranking member kaptur. Full committee chairman cole, ranking member delauro, and members of the subcommittee.
▶ 0:06:27The fiscal 2027 energy and water bill demonstrates our commitment to safeguarding U.S. national security, unleashing american energy dominance, and advancing our economic prosperity. The recommendation totals $58.5 billion, an increase of $461 million above fiscal year 2026.
▶ 0:06:50The bill delivers a historic investment in our national defense by providing $27.1 billion, an increase of $1.7 billion above fiscal 26 for the national nuclear security administration, prioritizing the continued modernization of the nuclear weapons stockpile and the united states navy nuclear fleet.
▶ 0:07:16We continue to fulfill our legacy responsibilities to remediate contaminated sites by funding department of energy cleanup activities at a total of $7.7 billion. The bill strengthens our nation's energy security, prioritizing research and development efforts on baseload energy sources and maintaining funding for programs that deliver affordable energy prices for americans.
▶ 0:07:44That's a priority for which we can all find common ground. To further the trump administration's efforts to expand domestic nuclear energy capacity. The bill includes $1.8 billion for base nuclear energy programs and additional funding to accelerate deployments of advanced reactors and strengthen the domestic nuclear fuel cycle. These funds will advance american leadership in the nuclear market and promote long term U.S.
▶ 0:08:14Energy security in support of the administration's focus on ensuring our nation makes efficient use of its vast fossil fuels resources. The bill makes strong investments to continue to secure our domestic supply chain of critical minerals and reduce reliance on foreign sources. Our national security and economic vitality are built upon our nation's scientific and technological leadership.
▶ 0:08:43The bill includes $8.5 billion for the department of energy's office of science to ensure america remains at the forefront of scientific discovery and innovation. The bill supports trump administration's genesis mission, which will harness our high performance computing capabilities and leverage ai to help address our greatest scientific challenges. This bill also advances our economic prosperity and promotes public safety.
▶ 0:09:10The bill includes $9.8 billion for the army corps of engineers, including full funding of the harbor maintenance trust fund activities. The bill also provides funding to continue construction for ongoing inland navigation projects to ensure the safe and efficient flow of commerce for projects to to protect communities from flooding.
▶ 0:09:33Funding for the bureau of reclamation totals $1.8 billion, an increase of more than 200 million above the enacted level. The bill prioritizes projects that increase water supply, assist drought resilience and support rural america. Overall, this is a fiscally responsible bill that will strengthen our national security and advance our energy independence. I would like to thank all the members of the subcommittee for their valuable input in helping shape this bill.
▶ 0:10:03The subcommittee received nearly 6700 requests from members for community project funding, programmatic funding, and the bill and bill report language. We have attempted to address these requests for both republicans and democrats within the overall priorities of the bill. Last but certainly not least, I would like to thank the staff on both sides of the aisle for their hard work on this bill.
▶ 0:10:32And let me take a pause here. Uh, before I became chairman, I would hear, uh, chairman, subcommittee chairman, thank their staffs. I can tell you this our majority and minority staffs have worked so well. This is not easy work. It's extremely difficult. I could not do my job without laura, her staff and our friends on the minority. Uh, sincerely. Thank you. It's been a privilege to work with you. Not only in the past, but. But now.
▶ 0:11:01And I look forward to working, uh, together with all of you as this bill moves forward. I'd ask for your support of this legislation, and I'm going to say this. I made a personal effort to reach out to try to get certain things in here, uh, candidly, uh, to try to get a bipartisan bill. I'm not going to give up on that effort. It is a good bill. The energy and water bill should be a bill that we can get bipartisan support on. So I'm going to continue to work towards those goals. I now recognize the ranking member kaptur for her remarks.
▶ 0:11:31But before I do that, uh, the coffee and donuts are on the way. I don't know, ian, um, it's not your fault, but please check on that. We've heard that before. Please check on that. Um, it's it's on its way. Uh, my dear friend, miss kaptur. >> thank you, Mr. chairman. Thank you for your gracious chairmanship of this committee.
▶ 0:11:53And, uh, 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. Uh, 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, uh, to develop what we hope could be a bipartisan bill. This has long been this committee's this subcommittee's practice.
▶ 0:12:19So I have to say, I'm a bit disappointed that with this worthy objective, um, we have engaged in a rather partizan process. And I hope as the future dawns and soon we can course correct with your leadership and our strong, uh, 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.
▶ 0:12:47Scott mckee, e della tullis and adam wilson. And on my personal staff, jed bullock and margaret mcginnis. I really want to thank them all. They're really fine, honest people. Turning to the substance of the bill, uh, U.S. 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 U.S. energy security.
▶ 0:13:16I'm going to say that again. U.S. national security requires U.S. 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.
▶ 0:13:45We are living again in an historical moment in which energy and war are hyperlinked. Global disruptions in oil routes routed in the middle east are causing our economy to nosedive. And I have a chart. I'm going to ask scott to hold up. Uh, due to president trump's war of choice on iran, gas prices have already risen to average $4.50 per gallon.
▶ 0:14:11Uh, 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. Um, you can see as gas prices rise, we always come into recession and 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.
▶ 0:14:39Further, 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.
▶ 0:15:05We as a congress, have an obligation, as the future dawns, to make sure that we defend our people, the imperative of U.S. 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
▶ 0:15:37That 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. Um, 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.
▶ 0:16:00And 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.
▶ 0:16:20So 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. Um, 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.
▶ 0:16:50There must be a revision in balances of top line funding between the defense 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, uh, which is 2% over last year.
▶ 0:17:13While 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.
▶ 0:17:41I 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 U.S. 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.
▶ 0:18:11We 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.
▶ 0:18:34We 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.
▶ 0:18:57We 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. Fuze rap is unacceptable, period. We seek no less than $200 million for this program to continue cleaning up contaminated sites.
▶ 0:19:29Why 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.
▶ 0:19:41The bill should only repurpose funds from the infrastructure investment and jobs act if the changes are bipartisan and embrace and 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 know how committed the chairman is to that. And let me end with this.
▶ 0:20:08This bill must also be free of writers, 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's power of the purse.
▶ 0:20:29Any 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 congress and signed by presidents. Finally, the bill should include common sense provisions providing transparency and accountability for how federal agencies spend the funds congress provides.
▶ 0:21:00Unfortunately, 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. >> thank the ranking member for her comments. At this time, I would like to recognize the distinguished chairman, our distinguished chairman of the full committee, Mr. cole, for his remarks.
▶ 0:21:26Thank you, chairman fleischmann, and thank you, ranking member kaptur and ranking member delauro. Always a pleasure to be with you. And frankly, to all the members on both sides of the aisle in the subcommittee, I'm going to give you my official statement, and I have a couple of reflections I want to make afterwards. Uh, today's measure delivers on america's energy imperative dominance that fuels our strength, prosperity, and growth.
▶ 0:21:50Under president trump's leadership, we are once again focused on resources that support our nation's ability to outinnovate, outbuild, and outpower the world. This bill reflects that agenda in every way. It advances activities to further unleash domestic production of critical minerals and reduce reliance on foreign supply. It unlocks technological innovations to propel advancements for the future, including support for the white house's genesis mission.
▶ 0:22:18Uh, and it produces robust funding for high priority inland and coastal navigation, flood control, and drought resilience projects. Importantly, this legislation also makes us more secure, with a focus on strengthening baseload energy sources and advancing nuclear capabilities. We reinforce american energy security, and we also prioritize cybersecurity efforts that enable a resilient electric grid.
▶ 0:22:47And we bolster our national defense by modernizing the nuclear weapons stockpile and supporting a nuclear navy chairman fleischmann has developed a bill that strengthens our national security, energy security and continues to unlock america's full energy potential. I thank him, ranking member kaptur, and the majority of the minority staff for their hard work, and I look forward to supporting today's measure.
▶ 0:23:14With that, uh, I'll yield back in just a second. I just wanted to, uh, you know, look around this room. And number one, I just wanted to compliment you and the ranking member, uh, because we all know there's a process in developing relationships or developing legislation.
▶ 0:23:32At the end of the day, all these appropriations bills really depend on the relationship that the two of you, the chairman, the ranking member of every one of these subcommittees, has with one another, because you're going to make most of the decisions are going to be made at your level. They're not going to be made, uh, at Mr. laurel lee level. In my level, I know we both prefer that you guys make these decisions, and, uh, we're damn sure not going to send anything up above us if we can possibly avoid it. And we were able to do that last time.
▶ 0:23:58And that's why 11 out of 12 of these bills got done, because we had good relationships between cardinals and ranking members, and we kept the decision making. Where is the most informed and the least political? And that's at the subcommittee level. Every level it moves up, it becomes less informed and more political. Uh, and frankly, I love leadership staff on both sides of the aisle. I trust appropriations staff at the subcommittee level. They know the business.
▶ 0:24:25They've been in the hearings they put together. So, uh, I just want to compliment the two of you. I've watched you develop a friendship and a relationship over your time together. You guys work together? Well, I look around this room. I know how well, uh, you know, chairman calvert works with betty mccollum. I know how well, uh, michael simpson works with pingree. I know how well Mr. clyburn works with womack, and that's been the basis of the success we had. We're going to continue that way, so we'll have some differences. We'll have a committee meeting.
▶ 0:24:56That's fine. We'll work some of those out. We listen to what people are saying, but at the end of the day, the real negotiation is going to be, uh, at your level. And I have a lot of confidence in you, Mr. fleischmann. And you, miss kaptur, that it will be a good product at the end of the day that you both can vote for. And that's the aim of the whole process here.
▶ 0:25:17It's not to score political points, it's to get us to the negotiation table where the two of you can sit down and make the real decisions that affect this bill, and we can advance it, hopefully in a bipartisan way, which I know my friend, the ranking member of the full committee, uh, tries to do too. And that's why we got 11 out of 12 across. We got all 12 across here. Uh, and we knew you had some things you had to worry about on your side on the 12th bill. Uh, and we tried to make accommodations for that to, to allow you to do that.
▶ 0:25:46Uh, and, uh, the thing I'll commit to you is we'll do it, but we won't do any better than you and miss kaptur do, uh, working together. I mean, we depend on you, and, uh, I just say that to all the members of subcommittee. This committee produced really good work last time. Really good work. Uh, and it was a bill that we could all get around. And once it was finally negotiated support. So I look forward to that. I want to thank, Mr. chairman, you and the ranking member for getting us started down that road.
▶ 0:26:14And, uh, we'll do our part to try and make sure we get all the rest of the way through. We'll do that. Thank you for the indulgence. And I yield back. >> uh, I want to thank the full committee chairman for his kind words of advice, and we will continue to heed those. And and yes, our last work product, uh, along with my distinguished friend Mr. simpson's work product, gained 419 votes on the floor, which was incredible. Uh, so thank you. And we're going to continue to work in that regard at this time.
▶ 0:26:43I now recognize the distinguished ranking member of the full committee, Mr. laura, for her remarks. >> thank you so much, Mr. chairman, and thank you to to you and to ranking member kaptur for the the great work and the past and and the present and continues into the future.
▶ 0:27:02Uh, and always happy to recognize, uh, my, my friend and my colleague, uh, chairman cole and I couldn't agree more on, um, the need for whatever, uh, differences there may be that those are worked out at the, uh, subcommittee full committee level. Uh, because I again, and I concur, the further it moves up the chain, uh, the less knowledge there is and the more political it gets.
▶ 0:27:32Uh, so that I think that people in this room are the members of the subcommittees and the staff, uh, certainly, um, are the most knowledgeable about what is in the bill and what has to be done. So I am, uh, you know, look forward to how we can work together to pass all 12 bills. Um, as we, as we move forward.
▶ 0:27:57And, um, so I want to say a thank you as well to the committee staff, to scott mckee, to dallas tullis, adam wilson, minority side, and laura sickle, perry yates, uh, corey kuipers and, uh, ray ray buckley for the majority, I want to say thank you for your work. We don't sit here except for the work that you do and much appreciated. Um, I will start where I am today in opposing the bill before us.
▶ 0:28:25Um, it raises energy costs for middle class working families and vulnerable americans who struggle today to afford the basic necessities of everyday life threatens our national security. It cuts funds used to stop the spread of nuclear weapons, and it exposes communities to radioactive waste, reducing funding used to control and clean up hazardous nuclear sites throughout the country.
▶ 0:28:51Uh, american families are struggling to keep up with rising costs today, living paycheck to paycheck. And based on inflation data released earlier this month, price increases have now outpaced wage growth for the first time since 2023, and one of the central factors driving the cost of living crisis is the rising cost of energy.
▶ 0:29:12Utility bills keep going up and instead of providing relief, um republicans plan is to cut back on programs that support our energy independence, increase our energy supply, and help drive costs down. The bill before us slashes funding for the department of energy's critical minerals and energy innovation account, which was previously called the energy efficient and renewable energy programs.
▶ 0:29:38This 1.3 billion 40% cut weakens american competitiveness. At the same time that global adversaries like china are redoubling their investments in energy of the future, failing to invest in clean energy sources here at home leaves us vulnerable. As we speak, iran continues to exert control over the strait of hormuz, driving up prices for american families.
▶ 0:30:01The president's war on iran has driven the cost of gasoline up by 40%, further exacerbating the crisis. If we want to mitigate these effects, we need to invest in alternative sources of energy. 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%.
▶ 0:30:28This hampers our efforts to track down, to 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.
▶ 0:30:54If we are serious about stopping the spread of nuclear weapons and nuclear material, why are we cutting funding to the program that does just that? Additionally, this bill would burden our communities by halting or slowing down ongoing cleanup of radioactive waste left over from the america's atomic weapons development.
▶ 0:31:13The army corps of engineers has made progress managing the cleanup and control of these areas, but this bill eliminates all funding for their programs, even as they still preside over 20 active sites. Lastly, the bill cuts the department of energy's office of environmental management by $863 billion, or 10%. This slows down cleanup of some of the most complicated radioactive cleanup sites across the country.
▶ 0:31:41In washington, south carolina, idaho and tennessee. At a time when americans are struggling to navigate rapidly rising costs, when our adversaries are increasing their investments in the technologies of the future, and when our communities remain burdened by the hazardous remnants of our atomic weapons program, this bill fails to meet that moment.
▶ 0:32:04I encourage my colleagues to vote no on the measure, to work together on a bipartisan basis, to craft an agreement that supports our communities, protects our national security, and invests in the future. Thank you, and I yield back. >> I thank the ranking member. And by the way, person of my word, the coffee and tidings have arrived a little bit late, but better late than never. Um. Thank you. Um. So please.
▶ 0:32:31Bon appetit. Do any other members wish to make any opening remarks? Yes. Um, well, I'm going to recognize Mr. cloud, my vice chairman, and then we'll we'll go to Mr. levin. Yes. Vice chair cloud. >> thank you chairman. I'll keep this brief because I know we got a lot of work to do in a short time, but I wanted to thank you for your work on this. You and the team have done an excellent job on this bill.
▶ 0:32:57I appreciate the work you've done to travel the country, to listen to people, uh, to prioritize pragmatic pragmatism in, uh, energy production in us, making sure our ports are secure and all the priorities that are in this bill. Um, in times past, we've thrown literally billions of dollars at projects we would say were energy innovation when they didn't actually produce any energy at all. Uh, in the meantime, we're in a race against china for ai, which is actually a race for energy production in our country.
▶ 0:33:26And so the need for us to ramp up pretty quickly, energy production in this country is so, so important. And you all prioritize it in this bill. Uh, I wanted to thank you for that. It's thank you. In your travels, you came to our district. So I really appreciated that, uh, enjoyed traveling with you and the team up the texas coast. And, uh, that was a lot of fun. So thank you for that as well.
▶ 0:33:50Uh, this bill does a number of things, including increasing investments toward nuclear energy projects, quantum computing, artificial intelligence efforts, prioritizes work on critical minerals and energy innovation, increases funding to the bureau of reclamation, specifically targeting water supply, drought response storage projects, which are essential for regions like mine, where water is essential to economic opportunity and actually national security as well, fully funds the army corps of engineers and high priority projects, including our ports that keep america running.
▶ 0:34:21Thank you for your great work on this. It's been an honor and a privilege to work with you on this and the team, and I look forward to seeing this bill move forward. Thanks so much. Appreciate your work. >> thank the vice chairman for his comments and and for all your help with this bill. This time, I'd like to recognize my friend and colleague from california, Mr. levin. >> well, I thank the chairman. I thank the ranking member. And I can just tell you, I personally am quite disappointed that we couldn't get there with the bipartisan bill here. I really hope that we will.
▶ 0:34:51I am so grateful for the chairman's sincere efforts to to get there and for the ranking member sincere efforts. Associate myself with chairman cole's comments, and I really hope that we can get there. And ranking member delauro as well. I know that we all were hoping that it would happen. Um, and I will just say a couple of things. Um, because I hope there are areas where I can find common ground. President was just in china and as you just said, china, they are not waiting for america anymore.
▶ 0:35:22They are leading the world when it comes to clean energy manufacturing, clean energy deployment. And for me, the president's this visit this week was a reminder of how much leverage the clean energy leadership gives beijing. And if we want to compete, and I believe we must compete, and there's nothing political about it. Uh, this is our economy. This is our strategic power in the world.
▶ 0:35:48We've got to take down the roadblocks to solar, to batteries, to advanced nuclear, and yes, to even wind that, uh, you know, are currently up. And, and you know, that that have been put up in the last year. Uh, and with that, when we take those boundaries down, we'll also build the workforce that can compete. And this is the most important global energy transition since the industrial revolution. Simple as that.
▶ 0:36:15The countries that can deploy the clean energy the fastest are the ones who are going to lower costs, strengthen domestic manufacturing, drive innovation, secure control over the energy supply chain that will define economic power for the rest of our lives and our kids lives and our grandkids lives. So where I take issue is that over the past year, about 180,000 clean energy jobs have been wiped out or delayed in the united states.
▶ 0:36:41These are projects that would have powered 14.6 million homes, and they've been either canceled or frozen. And we can argue about the clean energy tax credits. I certainly know we we have, but the grants that have been rescinded are really, really key here. And the permitting for wind and solar. It is under a blockade for both public lands and private lands. You've had billions in private investment that are sitting idle because federal policy has injected uncertainty into the marketplace.
▶ 0:37:11At the same time, the doe and I to be clear, I like chris, right. As a as a person, they are forcing old, expensive power plants to stay online despite, in some cases, local grid operators and the utilities themselves pleading to let the plant shut down and be replaced with newer, more affordable power sources. All of this leaves us vulnerable to the competition with china.
▶ 0:37:35It leaves our constituents exposed to volatile global markets and rising prices, which we've all been feeling acutely, of course, in the last couple of months. So we went through in full committee, went through the whole, uh, levelized cost of energy yesterday. So I won't do that again, but I'll just repeat that wind and solar on an unsubsidized basis are cheaper than new coal and frequently undercut new natural gas generation. It's not ideological, just math.
▶ 0:38:03So if we restrict the cheapest sources of new electricity, well demand rises. Prices will continue to go up. If we delay transmission, build out and limit things like energy storage, then the system relies more heavily on higher cost generation. All of our constituents will pay the difference. So what I hope or I hope we can get is a massive deployment of the lowest cost resources, a modernization of our grid, reducing volatility, increasing our competitiveness with china, and starting to bring costs down.
▶ 0:38:33So that's what I hope we can aspire towards. Mr. chairman, I so appreciate our friendship. And with that, I'll yield back. >> thank the gentleman for his comments. Do any other members wish to make any comments? Mr. murvin. >> thank you. Mr. thank you, Mr. chairman. I, of course, want to thank chairman cole, ranking member delauro, chairman fleischmann and ranking member kaptur for the opportunity to speak on fiscal year 27 energy and water appropriations bill.
▶ 0:39:00Over the last year, I've had countless conversations with constituents who are shocked and angry when they open their utility bills. On average, families in northwest indiana have seen their utility rates jump more than 26%, and these costly increases are making it difficult for seniors, families and hard working americans to keep their lights on. The work we do in this committee has a direct impact for the families in my area and across the country who are feeling the effects of this financial strain.
▶ 0:39:26It is critical that we support federal policies that expand energy supply, support good paying jobs, and bring real relief. Unfortunately, this bill falls short of these goals. Instead, the cuts included in this bill will slash american jobs, raise energy costs, and make us less safe. This bill doubles down on cuts to energy innovation, large scale energy projects that would strengthen our energy security, generate thousands of good paying jobs, and enhance our global competitiveness.
▶ 0:39:54This includes a $50 million cut to the advanced research projects agency. Arpa-e provides support for research projects that drive innovation that keep our advanced manufacturing industries globally competitive. At purdue university northwest, for example, researchers work hand in hand with the domestic steel industry to improve efficiency, drive workforce development, and improve workforce safety.
▶ 0:40:15These dollars are critical for the transformative research and supports and continued dominance of american steel, which in turn means good paying american jobs for generations to come. The bill also continues to revoke investments provided under bipartisan infrastructure law that will lower energy costs, strengthen our energy security and improve our air quality in our communities. I will underscore that the canceled hydrogen hub in northwest indiana was slated to create 12,000 direct jobs.
▶ 0:40:45The continued cuts to energy innovation project projects are irresponsible and come at a direct cost to jobs across the country. On the defense side, I'm also concerned about the 12% cut to the defense nuclear nonproliferation account, underfunding essential nonproliferation programs makes it more difficult to combat the threat of nuclear terrorism at a time when our adversaries are strengthening and investing in their nuclear arsenals.
▶ 0:41:09Finally, I'm grateful to the committee for continuing to include funding for the army corps of engineers, for the maintenance of commercial and recreational harbors, for the improving of clean water infrastructure for residents of northwest indiana. However, I remain concerned about the lack of transparency throughout this budgetary process, largely driven by the congressional communications directive that limits the corps ability to work closely with the members of this committee to identifying funding needs.
▶ 0:41:37This bill makes more than 50% cut to the harbors in my district. Indiana harbor and burns waterway, harbor service, major industrial manufacturing hubs. The largest oil refinery in the midwest, and the nation's largest concentration of steel production, is critical that these harbors receive the funding they need.
▶ 0:41:55The energy and water appropriations bill is intended to promote economic and environmental health in our communities, lower costs for hard working families, and address the threat of nuclear proliferation. These projects should not be partizan. And just to add to what Mr. levin said, uh, particularly in my area, utility bills have gone up. Uh, when Mr.
▶ 0:42:16Wright came before us, we had the conversation about, uh, a mandate or executive order to keep a coal fired, burned power plant open that cost $100 million to the utilities, which therefore puts a tariff on the ratepayers where the week before they celebrated, the secretary of energy celebrated opening up two natural gas power plants in pennsylvania and ohio. So it was good enough for pennsylvania and ohio.
▶ 0:42:46But yet my ratepayers are forced to have a coal plant that costs them $100 million. I just take that all into consideration for the innovation going forward, and I thank the committee for allowing me to have the opportunity to speak. >> thank the gentleman for his comments. Are there any other members who'd like to speak on the bill? Seeing none. Um, and seeing no amendments, I now recognize the distinguished vice chair, Mr. cloud, for the purpose of making a motion.
▶ 0:43:17>> Mr. chairman, I move that the bill be favorably reported to the full committee. >> the question is on the motion. Those in favor say I, I. All those opposed say no. >> no, no. >> in my opinion, the ayes have it. The motion is agreed to.
▶ 0:43:34I ask unanimous consent that the staff be permitted to make technical and conforming changes to the bill and report without objection.
▶ 0:43:52So ordered copies of the bill in the report with the technical and conforming changes will be delivered to all full committee members offices no later than three business days before full committee. I want to thank everyone very much again for their attendance today. That concludes today's markup. The committee now stands adjourned. Thank you. Thank.