Review – HR 4553 Introduced – FY 2026 EWR Spending

Back in July Rep Fleischmann introduced HR 4553, the Energy and Water Development and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2026. The House Appropriations Committee published their Report on the bill. There is a single cybersecurity mention in the bill. The Report contains a number of cybersecurity, chemical and counter unmanned aircraft systems discussion.

This bill is similar to HR 8997 that was introduced by Rep Fleischmann (R,TN) in July of 2024. The House Appropriations Committee published their Report on the bill and consideration of the bill began in the House, but no final vote was ever taken.

Moving Forward

The House Rules Committee is scheduled to meet tomorrow afternoon to formulate the rule for the consideration of HR 4553. The Rules Committee will determine which of the 82 amendments proposed to date will be considered during the consideration of the bill on the floor of the House.

The House is scheduled to consider the bill under that rule on Wednesday or Thursday. Even if this bill is passed in the House this week, it would be unlikely to be considered in the Senate before the end of the month. There is too much on the Senate’s plate and the focus is going to be on crafting a passable continuing resolution.

Commentary

Last year the House leadership could not get HR 8997 to a final vote in the House. The radical right would not support the bill because it did not cut spending enough. It does not look like enough spending changes were made to this bill to change that opposition. The difference this year is that the President is looking for a spending bill win leading up to the negotiations on a CR to keep the government operating past September   30^th. Failure to pass this bill will weaken the Republican’s discussion position with respect to the Democrats.

 

For more details about the cybersecurity, chemical, and cUAS provisions of this bill, as well as a discussion about the Democratic opposition, see my article at CFSN Detailed Analysis - https://patrickcoyle.substack.com/p/hr-4553-introduced-fy-2026-ewr-spending - subscription required.

House Passed HR 8998 – FY 2025 IER Spending Bill

The House resumed consideration of HR 8998, the Department of the Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies [IER] Appropriations Act, this morning. They just finished action on the bill, passing it by a straight party-line vote of 210 to 202.

No action was taken on HR 8897, the Energy and Water Development and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2025, even though the House completed consideration of all the authorized amendments yesterday. A planned vote for last night was cancelled when it was apparent to the leadership that there were not enough votes to pass the bill.

Spending Bills Considered in the House – HR 8997 and HR 8998 – 7-23-24

The House began consideration today of two spending bills, HR 8997 (the FY 2025 EWR spending bill) and HR 8998 (the FY 2025 IER spending bill), under the provisions of H Res 1370, which was approved earlier this morning by a straight party-line vote of 211 to 197 (with 24 members not voting).

HR 8997

Consideration started with HR 8997, starting with an en bloc amendment that contained 28 separate amendments. This en bloc included Amendment #30 offered by Rep Moylan (R,Guam) that calls for a CESER assessment on the cybersecurity of Guam's energy installations.  

There was an additional cybersecurity amendment that I had missed in yesterday’s post. Amendment #74 was offered by Rep Van Drew (R,NJ). It would move $10,000,000 from renewable energy programs to enhance the security of existing electrical transformers from cyber threats and from physical attacks from individuals. It was debated for 6-minutes, and a recorded vote was demanded. The amendment subsequently passed by a vote of 214 to 203 with 9 Republicans voting Nay and 10 Democrats voting Aye.

Action was completed on all amendments and a final vote was postponed, probably until tomorrow.

HR 8998

The House began consideration of HR 8998 at about 6:00 pm EDT. None of the amendments to be considered under H Res 1370 are of particular interest here. As of the time of this writing (10:43 pm EDT), the House is debating Amendment #42. With a total of 97 amendments to consider the House is unlikely to try to finish up tonight.

We will probably see final votes on both bills tomorrow afternoon.

Review - HR 8997 Introduced – FY 2025 EWR Spending

Earlier this month Rep Fleischmann (R,TN) introduced HR 8997, the Energy and Water Development and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2025. The House Appropriations Committee published their Report on the bill. The bill only contains one cybersecurity mention, but the report discusses multiple cybersecurity issues as well as some unique chemical processing issues.

Moving Forward

The House is expected to consider the bill this coming week. This was one of the spending bills that was passed last year, and it will probably pass again. It is highly unlikely that the Senate will take up their version of the bill before the end of the September. That means that once again, we are going to see conflict between the House leadership and the spending radicals on how to pass minibus spending bills. This year, that conflict is going to be aggrevated by whatever election results we end up with in November.

 

For more information on the cybersecurity and chemical provisions of the bill, see my article at CFSN Detailed Analysis - https://patrickcoyle.substack.com/p/hr-8997-introduced - subscription required.

Bills Introduced – 7-11-24

With both the House and Senate in Washington (and the House leaving for a district week), there were 106 bills introduced yesterday. Ten of those bills may receive additional coverage in this blog:

HR 8996 To enhance safety requirements for trains transporting hazardous materials, and for other purposes. Nehls, Troy E. [Rep.-R-TX-22]

HR 8997 Making appropriations for energy and water development and related agencies for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2025, and for other purposes. Fleischmann, Charles J. "Chuck" [Rep.-R-TN-3]

HR 8998 Making appropriations for the Department of the Interior, environment, and related agencies for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2025, and for other purposes. Simpson, Michael K. [Rep.-R-ID-2]

HR 9026 Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2025 Rogers, Harold [Rep.-R-KY-5]

S 4677 An original bill making appropriations for military construction, the Department of Veterans Affairs, and related agencies for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2025, and for other purposes. Sinema, Kyrsten [Sen.-I-AZ]

S 4678 An original bill making appropriations for the Legislative Branch for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2025, and for other purposes. Reed, Jack [Sen.-D-RI] 

S 4690 An original bill making appropriations for Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2025, and for other purposes. Heinrich, Martin [Sen.-D-NM]

S 4697 A bill to enhance the cybersecurity of the Healthcare and Public Health Sector. Rosen, Jacky [Sen.-D-NV]

S 4715 A bill to require the National Cyber Director to submit to Congress a plan to establish an institute within the Federal Government to serve as a centralized resource and training center for Federal cyber workforce development. Rounds, Mike [Sen.-R-SD]

S 4719 A bill to provide the Secretary of Energy with the authority to enter into contracts and cooperative agreements to improve the security and resilience of defense critical electric infrastructure and reduce the vulnerability of critical defense facilities to the disruption of the supply of energy to those facilities, and for other purposes. Cortez Masto, Catherine [Sen.-D-NV]

I will be covering the six spending bills (HR 8997, HR 8998, HR 9026, S 4677, S 4678, and S 4690).

I will be covering HR 8996, S 4715, and S 4719.

I will be watching S 4697 for language and definitions that would specifically include medical devices and other operational technologies used in the healthcare sector.