Kennedy details how Energy and Water Development appropriations bill saves money, improves defense

Watch Kennedy's comments here.

WASHINGTON - Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) explained how the Fiscal Year (FY) 2026 Energy and Water Development conference appropriations bill will cut spending by 2.8% while still providing increased funding for defense and Corps of Engineers programs in a speech on the U.S. Senate floor.

Key excerpts of the speech are below.

"I just wanted to quickly highlight what we're going to be voting on here in the next couple of days. The bill is $58 billion. That's less than the current budget.

"I'm very proud of that. I said at the very beginning of this process that I was not going to approve a budget that did anything but spend less. We have done that. Nominally, it is a $27 million reduction. Non-nominally, which means, if you factor in inflation, it is a 2.8% reduction over the current Energy and Water bill. So, in the new fiscal year, fiscal year 2026, we will be spending 2.8% less than we are spending on the Energy and Water bill right now. I'm very proud of that."

. . .

"We increased spending dramatically for defense. In fact, we're spending $912 million extra on defense in the Energy and Water bill over the current budget, a 2.7% increase-even though overall the bill is 2.8% less.

"Well, obviously, we had to cut something. We did. We're cutting non-defense spending, the non-defense portion of the bill, by 3.8%. We took a meat axe to the Green New Deal provisions in the current Energy and Water budget. Not everybody is happy about it. I get it, but we have already spent a lot, a lot of money on the Green New Deal, too much in my judgment. So, we reduced it in the new Energy and Water bill."

. . .

"So, to sum up, the Energy and Water bill, vis-a-vis the current budget, cuts spending by 2.8%. We increased defense spending by 2.7%. We paid for that increase overall and accommodated the decrease in overall spending by cutting non-defense green energy 3.8%. We've increased spending for the Corps of Engineers dramatically by $1.7 billion. That's a 19% increase. And we have doubled the amount of money for the strategic petroleum reserve. And I'll be happy, when the time comes, when we take up the bill, to answer questions."

The U.S. House of Representatives has already passed the conference Energy and Water Development appropriations bill. The Senate is expected to vote on final passage of the bill later this week.

Watch Kennedy's speech here.