Remarks

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I am pleased to present to the Committee the Fiscal Year 2026 Energy and Water Development and Related Agencies appropriations bill.

I’d like to thank Chairman Cole and Ranking Member DeLauro for their leadership throughout this process, and my good friend and Ranking Member of the Energy and Water subcommittee, Marcy Kaptur, for her partnership. 

I’d also like to extend my appreciation to all my colleagues for their valuable input in helping to shape this bill.

The FY26 Energy and Water bill demonstrates our commitment to safeguarding U.S. national security, unleashing American energy dominance, and advancing our economic competitiveness—in a fiscally responsible manner. The recommendation totals $57.3 billion, a decrease of $766 million below fiscal year 2025. 

Thank you, Chairman Womack, and thank you to Ranking Member Clyburn, Ranking Member DeLauro, and to all our members. 

The Transportation, Housing and Urban Development measure before the subcommittee today responsibly funds our most critical transportation and housing needs while demonstrating fiscal responsibility. 

This measure ensures that our airways, railways and roads are safe and improves reliability for the traveling public and freight haulers. Substantial funding allocated for highways through the Highway Trust Fund also delivers a meaningful increase that strengthens our core infrastructure.

Thank you, Chairman Cole, for your remarks on this bill and for your leadership. This Committee is fulfilling its constitutional duty thanks to your dedication.

And thank you, Ranking Member DeLauro, for your leadership on this committee. I trust that the day is not far off when we will work together to negotiate these bills in good faith with the Senate and the White House so that we avoid a catastrophic shutdown or long-term CR. 

Ranking Member Clyburn, thank you for your honest and thoughtful engagement on the subcommittee, and for your friendship.  

I would like to thank the subcommittee staff for their work on this bill. Doug Disrud, Avery Pierson, Andrew Giacini, Nathan Silverstein, and Sofie Myers with the majority; and Christina Monroe, Jackie Kilroy, and Nora Faye with the minority. 

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I rise today to offer H.R. 4016, the Fiscal Year 2026 Department of Defense Appropriations Act. I want to start by thanking Chairman Cole for his leadership in this process.  I also thank the Defense subcommittee ranking member, Ms. McCollum, for her partnership and friendship.  Finally, I thank the defense subcommittee staff for their tireless work on this year’s bill. 

H.R. 4016 provides $831.5 billion for the Department of Defense and the Intelligence Community.  While this is flat relative to discretionary funds enacted in fiscal year 2025, coupled with the recently enacted reconciliation act, it provides nearly $1 trillion to modernize and sustain our armed forces.

Thank you, Chairman Rogers, and thank you to Ranking Member Meng, Ranking Member DeLauro, and to all the members of the subcommittee for your participation in this process. 

From the frontlines of U.S. law enforcement and economic trade – all the way up to space exploration – the Commerce, Justice, Science Subcommittee oversees agencies consequential to our country.

The Fiscal Year 2026 bill before us today brings savings to taxpayers and protects the constitutional rights of Americans. It rights the wrongs of Biden-era politicization and overreach at the Department of Justice and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. 

Importantly, the bill makes critical investments to confront fentanyl and the deadly scourge of addiction that has stolen far too many lives. We robustly support local law enforcement and their work to protect our communities.

Over the last several months, our country has charted a course of recovery under President Trump. 

We are tackling immigration head on by securing our borders while standing up for what is right and just. We are right-sizing Federal government agencies to ensure Washington D.C. is working on behalf of our citizens, and not against them. And in Congress, we are moving appropriations bills that meet the needs of the American people. 

That is why I am proud to present the Fiscal Year 2026 CJS legislation which carries these positions forward. The bill provides a total discretionary allocation of $76.824 billion which represents a 2.8 percent decrease when compared to the total effective spending of the Fiscal Year 2025 enacted level. Importantly, the bill makes strategic investments in several agencies while appropriately reducing others. 

Thank you, Chairman Diaz-Balart, and thank you to Ranking Member Frankel, Ranking Member DeLauro, and to all the members of the subcommittee for being with us this morning. 

Our work on today’s Fiscal Year 2026 National Security, Department of State, and Related Programs appropriations bill is a critically important step toward building a renewed and sharpened approach to United States foreign policy, while also responsibly reducing spending. 

The legislation makes clear that we will not retreat from the cause of freedom. 

This bill prioritizes our national security through robust support to our allies and through stronger efforts to counter our adversaries. 

It supports essential efforts to advance democracy and defend human rights, as well as confront adversarial regimes like the Chinese Communist Party, the terrorist financiers in Iran, and the repressive Russian Federation. 

The Subcommittee will come to order.

I’d like to welcome everyone to today’s Fiscal Year 2026 subcommittee markup of the very first National Security, Department of State, and Related Programs appropriations bill.  Let me thank Chairman Cole for his essential leadership at the helm of the Appropriations Committee and for his wisdom in refocusing this subcommittee, starting by changing the name to better reflect that the investments made on behalf of the American people are to advance U.S. national security. 

I also want to thank Ranking Member Frankel and Ranking Member DeLauro, and all the members of the subcommittee for your partnership in developing this bill.