U.S. Sen. John Kennedy is calling for spending cuts in the energy and water bill his subcommittee released last week. He says he rejected the overall topline number given to him by Senate appropriators in favor of a bill that calls for increasing defense funding but an overall spending reduction.
“The FY 2026 Energy and Water Development Appropriations bill is a responsible step toward cutting bloated spending while bolstering America’s defense and energy infrastructures,” says Kennedy, who chairs the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Energy and Water Development. “I’m optimistic about the work ahead to move this critical legislation across the finish line.”
The bill that funds the Energy Department and various water programs calls for reducing spending by 1.1%, making it the only Senate appropriations bill released so far that calls for cuts, according to Kennedy’s office. The legislation would increase defense spending by 3% to $34.4 billion, while lowering by 6.5% nondefense spending to $23.1 billion and ensuring “robust” funding for the U.S. Army Corps. of Engineers.
Among the cuts in the bill are a 5% reduction to the Energy Department’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, which the department has recently decided to rename as the Office of Critical Minerals and Energy Innovation, The Hill reported. The bill also would cut the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy, an energy research agency, by 10%. And it cuts the Grid Deployment Office, which seeks to bolster electricity infrastructure, by 25%.
“While I am disappointed that Senate Republicans released a partisan bill instead of working with Senate Democrats—and I am especially disappointed by the cuts to critical clean energy programs—there are some important priorities I strongly advocated for that are addressed by the bill released today,” says U.S. Sen. Patty Murray, the subcommittee’s top Democrat. “I am committed to reaching bipartisan agreement with my colleagues on this bill and the remainder of our funding bills—and to getting them signed into law.”
—SPEAKER CAMPAIGNING FOR EMERSON: State House Speaker Phillip Devillier is squarely in the corner of Ways and Means Chair Julie Emerson in her bid for the U.S. Senate. That much will be evident today at noon at Juban’s when the speaker hosts a fundraiser for Emerson. She is among a large field of candidates challenging the reelection of U.S. Sen. Bill Cassidy.
—They said it: “You don’t hate the player. You can hate the game if you like.” –Gov. Jeff Landry on the controversy surrounding LSU hiring Lane Kiffin to be its next head football coach, on Fox News
