Today, the House Appropriations Committee released the Fiscal Year 2024 bill for the Energy and Water Development and Related Agencies Subcommittee. The bill will be considered tomorrow, June 15th at 9:00 a.m. The markup will be live-streamed and can be found on the Committee’s website.
The Energy and Water Development and Related Agencies bill provides $57.958 billion in discretionary spending, which is $1.963 billion below the FY24 President’s Budget Request. The bill provides $32.513 billion in defense spending, which is an increase of $1.113 billion above the FY23 enacted level, and provides $25.445 billion in non-defense spending, which is an increase of $143 million above the FY23 enacted level and $1.63 billion below the President’s Budget Request. The Subcommittee’s non-defense allocation is $19.865 billion, and the House bill includes $5.58 billion that is offset by clawing back the Democrats’ wasteful spending over the last two years. The bill prioritizes funding for agencies and programs that bolsters our national security, energy security, and economic competitiveness.
Fiscal Year 2024 Energy and Water Development and Related Agencies Bill
- Supports a strong national security by:
- Providing $19.114 billion for the continued modernization of the nation’s nuclear weapons stockpile and infrastructure;
- Providing $1.946 billion for Naval Reactors to support the operational nuclear fleet, Columbia-class submarine reactor development, and research and development for current and future generations of nuclear-powered warships; and
- Providing $2.38 billion for Defense Nuclear Nonproliferation to reduce the danger of hostile nations or terrorist groups acquiring nuclear devices, radiological dispersal devices, weapons-usable material, and nuclear expertise.
- Prioritizes energy security and economic competitiveness by:
- Supporting domestic uranium enrichment capabilities, including high-assay low-enriched uranium (HALEU) availability, which is essential to reduce U.S. reliance on foreign uranium sources to power current and future commercial nuclear reactors;
- Advancing small modular reactor and advanced reactor demonstration projects;
- Providing more than $200 million for the production of critical minerals;
- Requiring funds to be used by the Department of Energy (DOE) in a manner consistent with the research security provisions of the CHIPS and Science Act;
- Prohibiting oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve to be sold to any entity owned by or under the control or influence of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) or to any other entity that intends to export to China; and
- Investing in construction, operation, and maintenance of our nation’s ports and inland waterways to ensure goods can be moved safely to and from global markets.
- Reins in wasteful Washington spending by:
- Rescinding $5.58 billion from the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA).
Bill text is available here.
Original source can be found here.