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Markup boosts NNSA and Office of Science funding while Democrats warn cuts risk nonproliferation and cleanup work
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Summary
The subcommittee recommended roughly $25.3 billion for the National Nuclear Security Administration and $8.4 billion for DOE’s Office of Science, while Democrats warned cuts to nonproliferation and cleanup accounts would harm efforts to prevent proliferation and to remediate legacy contamination.
The subcommittee’s opening statement said the FY2026 bill provides about $25.3 billion for the National Nuclear Security Administration, an increase of roughly $1.2 billion over fiscal 2025, and includes $8.4 billion for the Department of Energy Office of Science. The chairman described these increases as priorities for nuclear modernization and scientific leadership. Democratic members argued the bill simultaneously cuts critical nonproliferation and cleanup accounts. Representative Kaptur said the measure cuts $412 million from the defense nuclear nonproliferation account and “zeroes out funding for the Army Corps program to clean up radioactive waste at early nuclear site[s], and slashes $779,000,000 from the Department of Energy's nuclear cleanup efforts,” remarks she used to warn that cleanup work promised to affected communities could be delayed. She referenced a site in the village of Lucky, Ohio, as being close to her home district. Representative Lemon discussed spent nuclear fuel management and thanked the chairman for including funding for integrated waste management. Lemon said DOE estimated a federal liability of about $48.7 billion at the end of fiscal 2024 for dealing with spent fuel from the existing nuclear fleet and emphasized the need for repositories and consolidated interim storage alongside any reprocessing activities. He noted the bill contains language prohibiting funds “from being used for private consolidated interim storage without any meaningful guidance from Congress,” and said he hopes to work on language to advance a federal solution. Majority remarks framed increased NNSA and Office of Science funding as strengthening deterrence and readiness and supporting next‑generation nuclear systems. Democrats cautioned that reductions in cleanup and nonproliferation lines risked leaving communities with unresolved contamination problems and would hinder efforts to detect and prevent nuclear proliferation threats. The subcommittee voted to report the bill to the full committee; members said they expect continued bipartisan work on spent fuel siting and other nuclear issues in subsequent committee stages.
