Chairman Chuck Fleischmann announced on May 15 that the Energy and Water Development and Related Agencies Appropriations Bill provides a total discretionary allocation of $58.5 billion, which is $461 million above the enacted level for fiscal year 2026. The bill allocates $35 billion to defense programs and $23.5 billion to non-defense initiatives.
The legislation aims to prioritize funding for agencies and programs focused on national security, energy development, and economic prosperity. According to Fleischmann, the bill “champions America’s nuclear deterrent and strengthens national security by modernizing the nuclear weapons stockpile, strengthening production capabilities, and ensuring a safe, secure, and reliable deterrent to counter growing threats from our adversaries.”
Fleischmann said the bill supports sustaining and modernizing the U.S. Navy’s nuclear propulsion program while targeting resources toward denying, detecting, and defeating nuclear threats through securing materials, countering proliferation efforts, and enhancing rapid-response capabilities. It also includes measures prohibiting crude oil sales from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve to entities associated with China’s Communist Party as well as restricting access by citizens of China or Russia to U.S. nuclear weapons production facilities.
The appropriations package advances several policy priorities such as supporting goals set by former President Trump’s administration—specifically quadrupling U.S. nuclear energy capacity by 2050—and protecting Second Amendment rights regarding firearms on Corps of Engineers land. Additional provisions aim at increasing investments in mining technologies for critical minerals extraction in order to strengthen domestic supply chains.
Other elements focus on maintaining funding for cybersecurity efforts related to the electric grid; accelerating research into advanced nuclear technologies; facilitating improvements in ports and waterways; eliminating funds for certain Department of Energy offices established during President Biden’s administration; refocusing applied energy technology funding; and reducing global dependency on U.S.-based foreign reactor conversions.
Chuck Fleischmann has served in Congress representing Tennessee’s 3rd District since 2011 according to Congress.gov. He was born in New York City in 1962 but currently resides in Chattanooga according to Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.
