With lawmakers gone for August, let's take stock of where things stand with an update of our legislative tracker.

Why it matters: Now that reconciliation has become law, committees are turning to appropriations and individual energy and mining bills.

• We're especially watching for what might catch a ride on the annual defense authorization bill and whether meaningful progress is made on permitting.

Energy/water funding

The issue: The FY26 energy and water spending proposals support Energy Department programs on nuclear and minerals while slashing funding for wind and solar research and demonstration projects.

Status: Approved by the House Appropriations. No action in the Senate.

What's next: The Senate is trying to agree on top-line numbers, with subcommittee Chair John Kennedy objecting to a funding increase negotiated by Susan Collins and Patty Murray, the full panel's chair and ranking Democrat.

Interior-EPA funding

The issue: Although House Republicans passed a bill that would make steep cuts to drinking water and environmental programs, GOP senators worked with Democrats to block many of President Trump's proposed reductions.

Status: Approved by the House Appropriations. Approved by Senate Appropriations.

What's next: Once both chambers act, they'll have to reconcile their vast differences.

NEPA overhaul

The issue: House Natural Resources Chair Bruce Westerman revived his legislation to speed up environmental reviews and limit litigation against permits, working in aspects of a recent Supreme Court ruling.

Status: Introduced in the House. No action in the Senate.

What's next: Senate Environment and Public Works aims to craft a bipartisan version of the measure, Chair Shelley Moore Capito and Ranking Member Sheldon Whitehouse committed yesterday.

AI taming extreme weather

The issue: Bipartisan legislation would direct NOAA to develop a U.S. global weather dataset to train AI forecasting models to more accurately predict extreme weather.

Status: No action in the House. Approved by Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation.

What's next: We're watching for this to catch a ride on a must-pass vehicle like a continuing resolution or the NDAA.

Making copper "critical"

The issue: The Critical Minerals Consistency Act would add copper to Interior's list of "critical minerals" as the Trump administration moves to impose tariffs on the mineral that feeds energy supply chains.

Status: Introduced in the House. Approved by Senate ENR.

What's next: The House — which passed the measure last session with Democratic support — is likely on a glide path to passage.

Fast-tracking power plants

The issue: The GRID Power Act would aim to prioritize "dispatchable" generation in interconnection queues.

Status: Approved by House Energy and Commerce. Introduced in the Senate.

What's next: House GOP leaders plan to bring it to the floor this fall as part of a larger energy package, but the Senate is just starting to discuss power-grid issues. Democrats have flatly rejected the idea of emphasizing fossil-fuel sources above renewables.

Hydropower permitting

The issue: Bipartisan legislation that would require FERC to report annually on the status of each hydroelectric dam seeking a renewed license.

Status: Passed the House. No action in the Senate.

What's next: Sens. Lisa Murkowski, Steve Daines and Maria Cantwell have forged previous bipartisan efforts to speed up hydropower licensing. They may want to go further as permitting talks heat up.

Fix Our Forests Act

The issue: This bipartisan legislation sponsored by Westerman and Rep. Scott Peters would speed up forest management projects and increase the pace and scale of restoration. It gained momentum following January's devastating LA wildfires.

Status: Passed the House. Hearing in the Senate Agriculture Committee.

What's next: The bill faces a tougher road in the Senate, as Democrats and environmental groups oppose the bill as a rollback of NEPA and ESA protections.

NDAA

The issue: The defense authorization bill is a vehicle for multiple nuclear and minerals programs that share national-security priorities.

Status: Passed House. Approved by Senate Armed Services.

What's next: Watch for movement in the year's last few months.

Rep. Pete Stauber plans to move legislation this fall that would codify Trump's executive orders to accelerate U.S. mining and minerals production.

Why it matters: Congressional Republicans are racing to cement as many of Trump's executive actions as possible.

• Mining and minerals has emerged as an area of bipartisan agreement, and Stauber has said he's talking with Democrats about lowering barriers to mining.

What he's saying: Stauber, an advocate for a major stalled project in his northern Minnesota district, sees mining as fitting into a broader effort to overhaul permitting.

• He chairs Natural Resources' energy and mineral resources panel and said bipartisan permitting talks could look at mining and delays affecting wind, solar and transmission projects.
• "It's been shown that in all sectors, [NEPA] is delaying projects," Stauber told me after a permitting hearing last week. "All-of-the-above has to be a part of the conversation. And I think that can be bipartisan."

Zoom in: Stauber's mining bill would require Interior to submit a list of priority projects to Congress and identify which it can immediately approve.

• It would mandate that agencies target any regulation that "imposes an undue burden" on mining.

☢️ 1. Nuclear nominee: Trump nominated Ho Nieh, vice president of regulatory affairs at Southern Company, to succeed Commissioner Christopher Hanson, who was fired in June.

• Nieh would join the commission at a time when the White House is seeking to overhaul the nuclear regulator.

🏛️ 2. Energy fights: Senate Energy and Natural Resources yesterday advanced three nominees for the Interior and Energy departments in 11–9 party-line votes.

• Trump nominees "have withheld funds that we have appropriated, they have canceled programs that we have established, they have closed offices that we have created, and they pursued policies that we have never approved," ENR Ranking Member Martin Heinrich said in voting "no."

⚡️ 3. Heinrich hits back: The New Mexico Democrat has also requested information from the DOE about its decision this month to cancel a loan guarantee to the Grain Belt Express transmission line.

🦺 4. PHMSA in focus: Reps. Scott Peters and Troy Carter and Sens. Ben Ray Luján and Ed Markey introduced legislation that would update the federal pipeline safety agency's decades-old gas pipeline leak detection and repair requirements to reduce methane emissions.

• The bill, which is unlikely to gain any traction with Republicans, could be a Democratic priority if the party regains control of Congress.