The Energy and Water Development appropriations bill includes funding for civil works projects of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (Corps), the Department of the Interior's Central Utah Project (CUP) and Bureau of Reclamation (Reclamation), the Department of Energy (DOE), and a number of independent agencies, including the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) and the Appalachian Regional Commission (ARC). Figure 1 compares the major components of the FY2018 Energy and Water Development bill at each stage of consideration, along with the FY2017 enacted levels. President Trump submitted his FY2018 budget proposal to Congress on May 23, 2017. The budget requests for agencies included in the Energy and Water Development appropriations bill totaled $34.189 billion (including offsets)—$4.261 billion (11.1%) below the FY2017 appropriation. The largest proposed increase was for DOE nuclear weapons activities, up by $994 million (10.7%). For the first time since FY2010, under the request, DOE would have received new funding to pursue an NRC license for a proposed nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain, NV, totaling $120 million (including funding for interim nuclear waste storage). The FY2018 budget request proposed substantial reductions from the FY2017 level for DOE energy research and development (R&D) programs, including a cut of $1.454 billion (69.6%) in energy efficiency and renewable energy, $388 million (58.1%) in fossil fuels, and $314 million (30.8%) in nuclear. DOE science programs would have been cut by $920 million (17.1%). Programs targeted by the budget for elimination or phaseout included the Advanced Research Projects Agency—Energy (ARPA-E), loan guarantee programs, and the ARC. Funding would have been cut for the Army Corps by $1.035 billion (17.0%), and the Bureau of Reclamation and CUP by $211 million (16.0%). After passing a series of continuing resolutions, Congress largely rejected the Administration's proposed FY2018 budget cuts in the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2018 ( P.L. 115-141 ), which was signed into law March 23, 2018. Funding tables and other details are provided in an accompanying Explanatory Statement. Appropriations for energy and water development programs, provided by Division D of the act, rose by a total of $4.768 billion over the FY2017 level (12.4%), to $43.219 billion. That total is $9.030 billion (26.4%) above the Administration's FY2018 request. DOE programs receiving major funding increases for FY2018 include energy efficiency and renewable energy programs (totaling $2.322 billion, up 11.1%), nuclear energy R&D ($1.205 billion, up 18.5%), science programs ($6.260 billion, up 16.1%), ARPA-E ($353 million, up 15.5%) and atomic energy defense activities ($21.605 billion, up 9.2%). The Administration's request for the Yucca Mountain Repository and interim nuclear waste storage was not approved. Funding for the Corps totaled $6.827 billion (up 13.1%), and for Reclamation and CUP $1.480 billion (up 12.4%). Leading up to the enactment of the omnibus funding measure, the House Appropriations Committee approved its version of the FY2018 Energy and Water Development Appropriations bill with a manager's amendment by voice vote on July 12, 2017. The committee-approved bill had total funding of $37.641 billion without scorekeeping adjustments—$809 million below FY2017 and $3.45 billion above the Administration request ( H.R. 3266 , H.Rept. 115-230 ). H.R. 3266 was combined with three other appropriations bill into H.R. 3219 , the Make America Secure Appropriations Act, 2018, which was passed with amendments by the House on July 27, 1017. The text of H.R. 3219 was then included without further amendment in an FY2018 omnibus appropriations measure ( H.R. 3354 ) that was passed by the House on September 14, 2017. The House-passed omnibus bill includes the Administration's proposed funding increase for DOE weapons activities, funding for Yucca Mountain, a decrease in funding for energy efficiency and renewable energy (EERE) R&D, and the elimination of ARPA-E and the loan programs. Most of the Administration's proposed reductions in nuclear and fossil energy R&D were not agreed to by the House, nor was the proposed elimination of the ARC. The Senate Appropriations Committee approved its version of the Energy and Water Development appropriations bill (S. 1609, S.Rept. 115-132 ) on July 20, 2017, with total funding of $39.27 billion, including $545.4 million in rescissions. The committee recommended funding increases to DOE's weapons activities, funding for support of nuclear waste storage at private facilities, a decrease in funding for EERE R&D, and elimination of the Title 17 Loan Guarantee program. The committee recommended against the elimination of ARPA-E, instead approving an increase from the FY2017 enacted level. For FY2017, funding for energy and water development programs was provided by Division D of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2017 ( P.L. 115-31 ), an omnibus funding measure passed by Congress May 4, 2017, and signed into law the following day. Total funding for Division D was $38.89 billion, offset by $436 million in rescissions. That total was $1.27 billion above the Obama Administration request and $1.54 billion over the FY2016 level, excluding rescissions. The Obama Administration also had proposed $2.26 billion in new mandatory funding for DOE, which was not approved. Proposed reductions for the Corps, Reclamation, and CUP were also rejected. For more information, see CRS Report R44465, Energy and Water Development: FY2017 Appropriations , by Mark Holt . Congressional consideration of the annual Energy and Water Development appropriations bill is affected by certain procedural and statutory budget enforcement measures. The procedural budget enforcement is primarily through limits associated with the budget resolution on total discretionary spending and subdivisions of this amount that apply to spending under the jurisdiction of each appropriations subcommittee. Statutory budget enforcement is derived from the Budget Control Act of 2011 (BCA; P.L. 112-25 ). The BCA established separate limits on defense and nondefense discretionary spending. These limits are in effect for each of the fiscal years from FY2012 through FY2021, and are primarily enforced by an automatic spending reduction process called sequestration, in which a breach of a spending limit would trigger across-the-board cuts of spending within that spending category. The BCA's statutory discretionary spending limits were increased for FY2018 and FY2019 by the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2018 (BBA 2018; P.L. 115-123 ), enacted February 9, 2018. For FY2018 BBA 2018 increased the defense limit by $80 billion (to $629 billion) and increased the nondefense limit by $63 billion (to $579 billion); for FY2019 it increased the defense limit by $85 billion (to $647 billion) and increased the nondefense limit by $68 billion (to $597 billion). (For more information, see CRS Report R44874, The Budget Control Act: Frequently Asked Questions , by Grant A. Driessen and Megan S. Lynch.) Several issues generated controversy during congressional consideration of Energy and Water Development appropriations for FY2018. The issues described in this section—listed approximately in the order they appear in the Energy and Water Development bill—were selected based on the total funding involved and the percentage of increases or decreases, the amount of congressional attention received, and their impact on broader public policy considerations. For the Army Corps of Engineers, the Trump Administration requested $5.002 billion for FY2018, which is $1.026 billion (17.2%) below the FY2017 appropriation. The deepest proposed cuts in the Corps budget were for Construction (45.6%), Mississippi River and Tributaries (30.1%), and Investigations (28.9%). The FY2018 request for the Bureau of Reclamation was $1.097 billion, a reduction of $209 million (14.3%) below FY2017. The Consolidated Appropriations Act for FY2018 provided $6.827 billion for the Corps (13.1% above FY2017) and $1.470 billion for Reclamation (an increase of 12.5%). The House would have provided a 2% total increase for the Corps and a 5.9% decrease for Reclamation from the FY2017 appropriation. The Senate Appropriations Committee would have provided a 2.1% increase for the Corps and a 1.4% boost for Reclamation from their FY2017 levels. For more details, see CRS In Focus IF10671, Army Corps of Engineers: FY2018 Appropriations , by Nicole T. Carter, and CRS In Focus IF10692, Bureau of Reclamation: FY2018 Appropriations , by Charles V. Stern. The FY2018 budget request proposed to terminate both the DOE Weatherization Assistance Program and the State Energy Program (SEP). The Weatherization Assistance Program provides formula grants to states to fund energy efficiency improvements for low-income households to reduce their energy bills and save energy. The SEP provides grants and technical assistance to states for planning and implementation of energy programs. Both programs are under DOE's Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE). The weatherization program received $228 million and SEP $50 million for FY2017.