Energy and Water Development and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2026

Floor Speech

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Ms. KAPTUR. Mr. Chair, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

I also compliment the chair of our subcommittee, Mr. Fleischmann of Oak Ridge, Tennessee, for his very gentlemanly behavior on both sides of the aisle so that we can actually move bills, which is our public responsibility.

I thank our diligent staff for all their hard work on this bill. I have to say I am very proud that ours is one of the first three bills to come to the floor. They are long delayed, not because we didn't do our work. We are ready. We want to pass funding for the new fiscal year, which begins on October 1.

I also thank the minority staff, Scott McKee, Anisha Singh, and Adam Wilson, and my personal staff, Kaitlin Ulin, TJ Lowdermilk, and Margaret McInnis. I thank them all, and I thank them for putting up with me.

Engineered energy and water systems undergird America's way of life. Energy and water are not optional but essential to sustaining life.

Of late, we have been piercingly reminded about our subcommittee's purpose. July brought nearly double the usual flood warnings, the second highest in 40 years. On July Fourth, Kerr County, Texas, sadly, saw one of the deadliest flash floods in U.S. history, with 117 lives lost. These tragedies inform us of the power of water and wild energy in our atmosphere.

Let me be clear: No matter how much Members on the other side of the aisle want to pretend that climate change is not happening, for the record, the last 10 years are the 10 hottest in recorded history. Think about that.

Our Great Lakes, the region I represent, comprise the largest body of freshwater on Earth. Specifically, Lake Erie, the southernmost of the lakes, no longer freezes over. Some of our favorite sports, ice boating and ice fishing, are now becoming a memory of the past, and hockey is now played indoors.

America's electric grid is old and under deep strain. The Energy Information Administration documented that the U.S. just set new records twice in July for peak electricity demand. The old grid system is being tested by hotter weather and higher usage. When the grid strains, costs rise and the most vulnerable families suffer first. How would you like to be in Tucson at 120 degrees week after week?

Unchecked growth in data centers alone could raise average U.S. electricity generation costs by roughly 8 percent by 2030. This is not hypothetical. It is happening as we meet today.

In Ohio, rapid demand growth from Big Tech data centers pushes electricity prices dramatically higher every month. Starting this July, households in Ohio saw their monthly energy bills increase a minimum of 10 percent. Some more than doubled. Families noticed a massive increase in monthly bills. I have one constituent who called and told us that her family's bill moved from $230 a month to $494 in July. This cost of energy increase is not sustainable for working families.

Sadly, this Republican energy and water bill does not meet our Nation's energy and water imperative for the future nor for the present. We must invest faster in modern infrastructure to become energy independent in perpetuity. That is our awesome--underline ``awesome''--responsibility. We must reduce energy costs by investing in modern grid resilience and an all-of-the-above energy portfolio.

This bill fails to address the cost-of-living crisis currently underway. Overall, household electric bills nationally are up 10 percent. That is just since January. In places like northern Ohio, I am hearing that, for many people, the total for energy and water bills has doubled. Every family in this country knows that. Even higher energy bills lie ahead for families and businesses.

China is investing record levels in energy, making its products more competitive. Sadly, this bill retreats from U.S. global energy leadership. What do I mean? The bill cuts $1.6 billion, or 47 percent, from the Department of Energy's energy efficiency and renewable energy programs. This undermines our Nation's imperative to deliver clean, affordable, and secure energy to the American people.

Our Nation should lead, not lag, in the global race toward energy independence in perpetuity. We must build an abundant clean energy future.

This bill eliminates funding for the Office of Clean Energy Demonstrations, which means building the future. It revokes $5.1 billion of bipartisan infrastructure law resources from the Department of Energy, which will cede the U.S. global lead in hydrogen, direct air capture, battery recycling, and consequent energy savings possible in every public and private structure.

Already, U.S. businesses have delayed or canceled--this is a shocking number--more than $33 billion in investments in energy projects this year. That is lost economic growth. Over 64,000 jobs have already been lost or stalled in the clean energy sector. That is uncalled for.

In May, this administration revoked $3.7 billion in Federal energy investment for 24 energy projects already signed, sealed, and delivered across America, including for manufacturing companies to become more energy-efficient and including over $100 million for Libbey Glass, Owens-Illinois Glass, and Kraft Heinz across our region of Ohio alone.

President Trump promised he was going to help American manufacturing. That revocation actually goes completely in the opposite direction.

Thus, I must strongly oppose these additional Republican cuts to vital energy production and conservation--and America's future--through the U.S. Department of Energy.

Shortchanging these advances pushes our Nation backward and raises already high energy prices even more for consumers.

In other areas, this bill dangerously shortchanges our national security. The bill slashes $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 of those cuts are 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 by zeroing out the Army Corps program to clean up radioactive waste at early nuclear sites. This is deadly.

It slashes $779 million from nuclear cleanup efforts. That is three- quarters of a billion dollars. This will delay the cleanup that these communities have been promised for decades. I will note that one of these American atomic waste sites is in the village of Luckey, Ohio, not so far from my district.

Finally, this bill includes numerous controversial poison pill riders that are so extreme that they cannot gain bipartisan support and become law.

Mr. Chair, I urge my colleagues to oppose this bill. America can and must meet the new age frontiers of energy and water. Nature is signaling. Times are changing. We must not turn back the clock but seize the baton for future generations to come.

Now is the moment to keep America on a steady path forward for an all-of-the-above energy, water, and nuclear security portfolio.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Ms. KAPTUR. Mr. Chair, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Indiana (Mr. Mrvan), a very hardworking member of the Appropriations Committee.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Ms. KAPTUR. Mr. Chairman, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Pallone), the hardworking and highly able distinguished ranking member of the Energy and Commerce Committee, the authorizing committee.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Ms. KAPTUR. Mr. Chairman, I yield 1 minute to the gentlewoman from Florida (Ms. Castor), who works so hard on all climate issues. I thank the gentlewoman so very much for speaking today.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Ms. KAPTUR. Mr. Chair, I yield an additional 1 minute to the gentlewoman from Florida.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Ms. KAPTUR. Mr. Chairman, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Foster), who is a genius who just happens to be a Member of Congress, as well, so the country is twice blessed.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Ms. KAPTUR. Mr. Chair, I yield myself the balance of my time.

Mr. Chair, this Energy and Water bill costs American households, undermines U.S. global leadership, and weakens national security. Sadly, this Republican Energy and Water bill does not meet our Nation's imperative for the future.

In closing, I urge my colleagues to oppose this bill. America can do better, and we must lead in the new frontiers of energy and water. We must keep this country secure. Our Nation's future depends on all of these.

Mr. Chair, I yield back the balance of my time.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Ms. KAPTUR. Mr. Chair, I rise in support of this bipartisan amendment and offer the comment that I wish all legislation could be accomplished in this manner.

This en bloc contains noncontroversial amendments from Members of both parties.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Ms. KAPTUR. Mr. Chair, I thank Congressman Taylor for coming to the floor, who is a fellow Buckeye. It is great to have southern Ohio and northern Ohio on the floor at the same time.

Mr. Chair, I yield 2 minutes to the gentlewoman from Oregon (Ms. Dexter).

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Ms. KAPTUR. Will the gentleman yield?

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Ms. KAPTUR. Representing the largest fishery on the Great Lakes where we have white fish, perch, and pickerel, I would be very interested in the gentleman letting us know how long brown fish grow. What is their length?

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Ms. KAPTUR. Mr. Chair, we ought to have a fish day up here on Capitol Hill to make everybody feel better.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Ms. KAPTUR. Mr. Chair, I thank the Chair for his good measure today.

Mr. Chair, I yield back the balance of my time.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Ms. KAPTUR. Mr. Chair, I rise in opposition to this amendment.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Ms. KAPTUR. Mr. Chair, in rising in opposition to this amendment, I do so because the amendment prohibits funds provided by this act from being used to close campgrounds or parks operated by the Army Corps of Engineers that are located at or around Lake Sidney Lanier in Georgia.

I can certainly understand the strong interest in preventing the Corps from closing campgrounds and parks in any particular area and certainly this one. The Corps is one of the Nation's leading Federal providers of outdoor recreation. They do not provide it in my district, though it would be nice if they did.

In this place, the Corps' recreation sites receive more than 260 million visits each year and include more than 400 lake and river projects in 43 States. They have a very broad reach.

Unfortunately, the Corps of Engineers' recreation funding has declined in recent years, and I support the notion that we do not want the Corps to close recreation sites due to lack of funding.

However, this is an issue that affects hundreds of sites across dozens of States. Then there are places like I represent where we don't have any Corps sites but we would like one.

I don't believe we should begin the practice of using funding prohibitions to carve out special designations but, instead, should develop a comprehensive solution to address the challenge of funding Corps recreation sites.

For this reason, at this moment I oppose the amendment. I look forward to working with my colleagues to develop a solution to the larger challenge at the Corps. The door is open if we can find other sources of funding.

Mr. Chair, I yield back the balance of my time.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Ms. KAPTUR. Mr. Chair, I rise in opposition to this amendment.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Ms. KAPTUR. Mr. Chair, I rise in opposition because this amendment, as I understand it, creates a funding prohibition related to the Delaware River Basin Commission.

The Delaware River Basin Commission is a Federal interstate compact agency charged with managing the water resources of the Delaware River Basin on a regional basis without regard to political boundaries.

As established by law through the Delaware River Basin Compact that went into effect in 1961, which is a half century ago, the Commission consists of the Army Corps of Engineers and the four basin State Governors. Those States include Delaware, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and New York. Each is a significant place in the union.

The Corps of Engineers and these States work as equal partners for planning, development, and regulatory action for the river basin. Given the Commission's statutory mission, it analyzed the risks to water resources posed by high-volume hydraulic fracturing and horizontal drilling techniques.

We know something about this in Ohio; that is for sure.

Through a public rulemaking process, the Commission developed regulations related to high-volume hydraulic fracturing within the Delaware River Basin.

As a reminder, the Commission consists of the Governors of the four basin States--Delaware, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and New York--and the North Atlantic Division commander of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

It does not strike me as the proper role for Congress, particularly through an appropriations rider, to overrun or overrule regional and local governments on this matter.

While the commission's work could be further discussed, I am also concerned that this implicates funding provided to the Delaware River Basin Commission as community project funding on behalf of a Member of this body.

For those reasons, Mr. Chair, I urge my colleagues to think about all this. I will be voting against this amendment, but I think there is a little more homework that has to be done on this one.

Mr. Chair, I yield back the balance of my time.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Ms. KAPTUR. Mr. Chairman, I rise in strong opposition to this amendment.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Ms. KAPTUR. Mr. Chair, as I am listening to this debate, and I haven't studied the maps completely, it sounds like Pennsylvania's effluent flows into points east of Pennsylvania.

Is that correct, Congressman?

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Ms. KAPTUR. I yield to the gentleman from Pennsylvania.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Ms. KAPTUR. We understand this challenge from Ohio, Michigan, and Indiana. We have our own tristate issues there.

This amendment prohibits funding for the Delaware River Basin Commission. It is hard to oppose the gentleman from Pennsylvania, but established by law through the Delaware River Basin Compact that went into effect in 1961, the commission consists of the Army Corps of Engineers and the four basin State Governors. Those States include Delaware, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and New York.

I guess any State could disagree, but the purpose of a commission is to try to get people to work together.

The effluent that is flowing from Pennsylvania into New Jersey may have to be tested for its content.

I don't really know, but the Corps of Engineers in these States work as equal partners for planning, development, and regulatory actions for the river basin.

While the commission's work could be further discussed, my strongest reason for opposition to this amendment is that the underlying bill provides $715,000 to the Delaware River Basin Commission as community project funding on behalf of a Member of this body.

The community project funding process allows Members of Congress to request funding for their community to meet urgent needs that they identify, and there is a rigorous process for the vetting and inclusion of community project funding including strict transparency and accountability rules.

I am a little surprised that one Member would target another Member's community project funding through an amendment on the floor.

Mr. Chair, I strongly urge my colleagues to work together and to vote against this amendment, and I yield back the balance of my time.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Ms. KAPTUR. Mr. Chair, I claim the time in opposition to this amendment.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Ms. KAPTUR. Mr. Chair, I say to the fine gentleman from Pennsylvania that I drive a conventionally powered car. I put gasoline in my car. I don't have a favorite. I had a brother who was a race car driver, so he tried everything.

This amendment, though, would strike all funding provided in our bill to oversee and administer the Advanced Technology Vehicles Manufacturing program, ATVM for short.

All I have to say is that we need lots of hands on deck in inventing the new overground transportation systems for this country because, globally, we are falling behind, and the companies know it.

This program is currently responsible for carefully vetting and conducting oversight of more than $30 billion in loans that are either active or have conditional commitments. There are ATVM loan projects across the country, across industrial America--my colleague and I share that, both bounty and struggle--in Ohio, Kentucky, Tennessee, Georgia, New York, Michigan, and Indiana. These are projects that support the production of advanced vehicles, vehicle components, and critical minerals.

I am actually fast at the task of building a Toledo car because I don't want all of those gizmos they put on the cars today. You are forced to buy it when you go in, but you don't want it. Then, if it breaks, it costs $500 or more to get it fixed. People don't want all of that stuff. If they want the stuff, let them select it.

However, the ATVM program is projected to add almost 40,000 jobs nationwide, and we need it. Today, we are faced with an amendment to undercut those investments and jobs across our country.

Even for those who do not support the critical work of this program, eliminating this funding is truly cutting off our nose to spite our face.

Mr. Chair, if you want to increase fraud or hinder the ability of the Federal Government to interact with private business quickly and efficiently, then, by all means, vote for this amendment. I, however, will vote against it because we must continue to invest in the manufacturing expertise of this country. I underline ``manufacturing,'' not ``copying.'' I mean building, creating, innovating. I want to make sure we do so as efficiently and responsibly as possible.

Without the necessary support to advance and oversee these investments, we risk our national security by letting our international competitors, China in particular, outpace our efforts at home.

I urge my colleagues to vote against this misguided amendment.

I have staff members who drive hybrids. They like those. I don't like the particular hybrid one of them drives because it is too close to the ground and you feel the road too much.

We all have opinions based on what size we are and how we can see out the windows and all, but I really do think that anything that has to do with advanced technology vehicle manufacturing is something I do not want to displace in the array of options that we have as a country. There is too much at stake here.

We have just seen the rebirth of the steel industry and are fighting for that every day. I was just up at the Soo Locks in Michigan looking at our ability to move steel and other material from Duluth all the way down through the seaway and then out to the world. We are working very hard on reinvesting in manufacturing America.

Madam Chair, I would not at all support the elimination of this program or the cutting short of this program at a time when America really needs it. So much of our componentry has been shipped offshore because they pay cheap wages. They pay penny wages, and they can move componentry.

Madam Chair, I had something happen to my car, and they took out the part. Sure enough, a foreign part failed. I could have been killed. You look at this, and I thought: I know this wasn't made in our country. Where was it made? You can guess.

We have to restore American manufacturing. I think that this is one way that we can do it.

We also have to invent new fuels. We, in our region, flew the first biofueled F-16 aircraft in this country. It didn't crash. They loved it. We are inventing the new fuels of the future, biofuels.

Half of the corn and soy in my region goes into fuels. It is a good thing it does because we have lost our agricultural markets to Brazil and Argentina selling to China, so our farmers aren't exporting into China anymore because of what is happening globally in the marketplace.

For manufacturing America, I oppose the amendment because I want invention here. I want manufacturing here.

Madam Chair, I yield back the balance of my time.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Ms. KAPTUR. Madam Chair, I demand a recorded vote.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Ms. KAPTUR. Madam Chair, I rise in opposition to the amendment.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Ms. KAPTUR. Madam Chair, the gentleman's amendment reduces funding for the Northern Border Regional Commission by $13 million.

The Northern Border Regional Commission is a Federal-State partnership focused on economic and community development within the most distressed counties in Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, and New York.

Except for New York--but New York in the north is different than New York in the south--many of these States don't have very many Members of Congress.

When you look at Vermont, I actually have more citizens in my district than the State of Vermont does in its entirety. The Northern Border Commission really does focus on places that often get ignored simply because those States don't have enough people in them to warrant the kind of attention maybe Pennsylvania gets because of its number of people, or California.

The NBRC was created by Congress in 2008 to provide infrastructure and economic development assistance to projects in counties that had varying degrees of economic and demographic distress. These investments lead to new jobs being created.

I have seen what it has done, for instance, in the Appalachian Regional Commission. It has taken a while, but I think many of our colleagues on the other side of the aisle from these States, where these commissions function, will agree and say it is the first time that kind of help has come in creating new businesses and trying to create roads that didn't exist and try to promote economic development in really some of the forgotten corners of America.

It is critical to support the rise of all Americans to become part of a thriving middle class. In some parts of the country, it is more difficult than others.

I can guarantee where there has been deindustrialization because of the outsourcing of production, there ought to be a whole separate set of activities that occur in those areas of the country, whether it is Kenosha, Wisconsin, whether it is Toledo, Ohio, or Flint, Michigan. One of the reasons the public is so unstable politically is because they are looking for an answer and neither party has been able to fully accommodate the needs of those places.

I think we are becoming more sensitive to it, and these commissions provide us a very important means to do it.

Madam Chair, I oppose the gentleman's amendment. Actually, I think part of Pennsylvania, is it not covered by the Appalachian Regional Commission? Will the gentleman yield?

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Ms. KAPTUR. I just think that when you look at some of the money that goes out to different places in the country, Pennsylvania hits higher than Ohio does actually. For us, the Appalachian Regional Commission in southern Ohio has been just terribly important.

Has it been the most important vehicle for restoring what was lost or trying to convert to other economic activities? No. Are we crawling forward? Yes. At least we are not falling behind even more.

Madam Chair, I thank the gentleman for offering this amendment, but I have to oppose it.

Madam Chair, I yield back the balance of my time.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Ms. KAPTUR. Mr. Chair, I demand a recorded vote.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Ms. KAPTUR. Mr. Chair, I rise in opposition to this amendment.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Ms. KAPTUR. Mr. Chairman, this amendment reduces funding for the Southwest Border Regional Commission by $2 million.

The Southwest Border Regional Commission was established by Congress in 2008 to address economic distress along the southern border regions of some pretty important places--Arizona, California, New Mexico, and Texas. In December 2022, the Senate confirmed the first Federal co- chair for the commission.

Think about the delay in the co-chair--that took a large number of years--which enables the commission to convene and begin other activities. I would place the burden there on the executive branch for waiting such a long time to nominate someone and on the Senate to actually clear the name.

These investments lead to new jobs being created, and many of these places have very small towns that don't even have parking lots in their little bakeries or their restaurants. It is critical to support the rise of all Americans to become part of a thriving middle class, especially in the forgotten towns and regions of our country.

I strongly urge my colleagues to vote against this amendment on behalf of people who are trying to better their way of life, against all odds.

Mr. Chairman, I yield back the balance of my time.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Ms. KAPTUR. Mr. Chair, I demand a recorded vote.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Ms. KAPTUR. Mr. Chairman, I rise in opposition to this amendment.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Ms. KAPTUR. Mr. Chairman, this amendment reduces funding for the Southeast Crescent Regional Commission by $16 million, a commission that was established in 2008, but unfortunately, the Governors of the respective States did not appoint those who were to manage the Southeast Crescent Regional Commission until just a couple of years ago, so there was no way that it could get off the ground.

If you have traveled in that region of America, you would come back a different person, so I urge you to do that.

The Southeast Crescent Regional Commission's mission is to build sustainable communities and strengthen economic growth across the Southeast region, including places in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Virginia. The Southeast Crescent Regional Commission invests in the region's economic future through a grant program, publishing research related to the region, and income-producing learning experiences.

Many people there have never started a business, but they want to. You must have had a good father or mother to help you get into business--I don't know--but it is important that opportunity be seeded in all parts of our country to help communities seize opportunity, address economic disparity, and advance prosperity. It is critical to support the rise of all Americans to become part of a thriving middle class, where possible.

Mr. Chair, I also wanted to mention the gentleman voted for the big billionaire bonanza bill that added $4 trillion to the U.S. debt.

Mr. Chair, I strongly urge my colleagues to vote against this amendment, and I yield back the balance of my time.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Ms. KAPTUR. Mr. Chair, I demand a recorded vote.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source