Congressman Byron Donalds (R-FL) took the helm Thursday afternoon, rallying House Republican colleagues to urge President Donald Trump to reclaim America’s edge in nuclear fusion—a technology hailed as a game-changer for energy independence, national security, and geopolitical clout.
In a letter co-signed by Reps. Jay Obernolte (R-CA), Troy Nehls (R-TX), Dan Newhouse (R-WA), Tom Kean Jr. (R-NJ), Rich McCormick (R-GA), and Julie Fedorchak (R-ND), Donalds pressed Trump to act on recommendations from his first term, warning that China’s aggressive fusion investments threaten U.S. dominance.
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The initiative casts fusion energy as a linchpin for America’s future, promising “clean, safe, and virtually limitless baseload power.”
Donalds highlighted Trump’s first-term strides, including a 2020 Department of Energy (DOE) Fusion Energy Sciences Advisory Committee (FESAC) long-range plan that mapped out a path to commercial fusion. But under President Biden, the lawmakers argue, that momentum stalled, leaving a “global void” that China has eagerly filled with billions in funding and a 25-entity national fusion consortium.
“The private sector cannot win the race alone,” the letter states, urging Trump to reverse the lag and outpace Beijing.
The letter praises private U.S. fusion firms—over 20 of which aim to go commercial within a decade—for racking up billions in investments and eyeing first power plants during Trump’s second term. Yet it warns that federal support is lagging, with fusion initiatives like the Milestone-Based Fusion Development Program—signed into law by Trump in 2020—getting just 1.2% of DOE fusion funding from 2020 to 2023, per a Government Accountability Office report.
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Modeled after NASA’s SpaceX partnerships, the program shifts financial risk to companies, reimbursing them only for verified milestones, a cost-saving approach Donalds touts as slashing management overhead by up to fourfold.
Donalds and his co-signers call for three concrete steps: fully funding the current phase of the Milestone Program, expanding it to cost-share initial fusion plants, and realigning the DOE’s fusion efforts with the FESAC plan’s research priorities.
“We risk losing the fusion race to other nations, including China,” they write, framing fusion as a dual economic and security imperative. A Chinese-led fusion industry, they caution, could dominate via the Belt and Road Initiative, locking in decades of global influence.
The push aligns with Trump’s “energy dominance” vision, spotlighted in his March 4 address to Congress, and echoes broader GOP efforts—like the National Energy Dominance Council—to unleash American resources.
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“Fusion energy offers a unique opportunity to address our long-term energy needs while strengthening our national security,” the letter concludes, positioning Trump as the linchpin to seize this “inflection point.”
As fusion nears commercial reality, with U.S. firms announcing customer deals and plant sites, Donalds’s initiative signals a Republican bet on next-gen energy to cement America’s lead. The White House has yet to respond, but with China’s fusion juggernaut in the crosshairs, the stakes—and the spotlight—are higher than ever.
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