WASHINGTON— Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) said the Fiscal Year 2026 Energy and Water Development appropriations bill will reduce overall spending by 2.8% while increasing funding for defense programs and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
Speaking on the Senate floor, Kennedy said the $58 billion measure represents a $27 million reduction from the current year’s budget, marking what he called a “responsible approach” to fiscal management. “I said at the very beginning of this process that I was not going to approve a budget that did anything but spend less,” Kennedy said. “We have done that.”
The bill provides a 2.7% increase in defense spending, or about $912 million more than the current level. To offset the increase, Kennedy said the legislation cuts non-defense spending by 3.8%, including reductions to programs associated with the Green New Deal. “We took a meat axe to the Green New Deal provisions in the current Energy and Water budget,” he said. “Not everybody is happy about it. I get it, but we have already spent a lot of money on the Green New Deal, too much in my judgment.”
Kennedy said the bill also boosts funding for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers by $1.7 billion, a 19% increase, and doubles funding for the Strategic Petroleum Reserve.
The U.S. House of Representatives has already approved the conference version of the bill, and the Senate is expected to vote on final passage later this week.