Sponsor
Chuck Fleischmann
Representative · R-TN
Representative · R-TN
This bill increases congressional control, reporting, and targeted funding for conservation, water, and selected nuclear projects — improving transparency and protecting congressional spending priorities — at the cost of reduced agency flexibility, added administrative burden, and the risk of delayed projects, higher costs, and narrower federal policy tools (particularly in health, procurement, and energy programs).
Taxpayers, Congress, and state/local governments gain much more frequent and detailed visibility into agency budgets, reprogrammings, and awards through new monthly/quarterly/semiannual reporting and pre‑notice requirements.
Congress’s spending priorities are better protected because the bill limits agencies’ ability to reprogram funds without Appropriations Committee approval.
Communities affected by natural disasters retain rapid Corps emergency response capability because the Chief of Engineers keeps explicit emergency reprogramming authority (with notification to Congress).
Federal agencies, state and local partners, and contractors will have less flexibility to reallocate funds quickly, making it harder to respond to evolving needs and raising the risk of slowed disaster recovery or project adaptation.
New pre-approval, notification, and frequent reporting requirements substantially increase administrative burden and compliance costs for agencies, grant recipients, and program staff, diverting time from program delivery.
Caps, committee-approval requirements, and short notice timelines risk delaying procurements, award starts, and ongoing projects, which can increase contractor claims, extend schedules, and raise costs for local governments and utilities.
Based on analysis of 10 sections of legislative text.
Imposes detailed reprogramming limits, reporting and notification requirements for FY2026 appropriations across multiple agencies; updates Reclamation authorizations; bans DEI funding and restricts consolidated interim spent fuel storage without consent.
Official title: Making appropriations for energy and water development and related agencies for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2026, and for other purposes.
Introduced July 21, 2025 by Chuck Fleischmann · Last progress September 8, 2025
Directs how FY2026 appropriated funds may and may not be used across multiple agencies, especially the Army Corps of Engineers, Department of the Interior (Bureau of Reclamation), Department of Energy, and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. It restricts reprogramming and new starts, sets numeric reprogramming limits, requires advance notifications and regular reports to House and Senate Appropriations Committees, and specifies permissible uses of funds listed in accompanying reports. Also updates certain Reclamation authorizations and program funding ceilings, bars use of funds for diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs, limits federal support for consolidated interim storage of spent nuclear fuel absent state/local/tribal consent, and imposes administrative requirements and prohibitions (e.g., anti-lobbying, transfer reporting, and pornography controls) on agencies receiving title funds.