Pursuant to clause 3(c)(3) of rule XIII, the following is the cost estimate provided by the Congressional Budget Office pursuant to section 402 of the Congressional Budget Act of 1974:
H.R. 7266 would reauthorize the Department of Energy's Rural and Municipal Utility Advanced Cybersecurity Grant and Technical Assistance (RMUC) Program through 2031. The program, which is currently authorized through 2026, provides technical assistance, grants, and other support to electric utilities to protect against cybersecurity threats. The bill would authorize the appropriation of $250 million for the 2027-2031 period. The estimated budgetary effects of the legislation are shown in Table 1. The costs of the legislation fall within budget function 270 (energy). For this estimate, CBO assumes that $50 million will be provided in each year over the 2027-2031 period; that is consistent with how the RMUC program was funded under the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA). Based on historical spending patterns for this and similar programs, CBO estimates that implementing H.R. 7266 would cost $114 million over the 2026-2031 period and $136 million after 2031, assuming the appropriation of $50 million in each year over the 2027-2031 period.
TABLE 1--ESTIMATED BUDGETARY EFFECTS OF H.R. 7266 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- By Fiscal Year, Millions of Dollars ---------------------------------------------------------- 2026- 2026 2027 2028 2029 2030 2031 2031 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- INCREASES IN SPENDING SUBJECT TO APPROPRIATION Authorization 0 50 50 50 50 50 250 Estimated Outlays 0 1 9 23 36 45 114 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The bill would authorize the appropriation of $250 million over the 2027-2031 period but does not specify amounts for specific years. For this estimate, CBO has assumed that $50 million will be provided in each year over that period. CBO also estimates that enacting H.R. 7266 would increase direct spending by less than $500,000 over the 2026- 2036 period.
In addition, enacting H.R. 7266 would increase direct spending because we expect that amounts previously appropriated for the RMUC program that are not otherwise expected to be spent under current law could be used for the reauthorized program. Those amounts would derive from budget authority originally designated as an emergency requirement under IIJA. CBO estimates that any increase in direct spending would total less than $500,000 over the 2026-2036 period. H.R. 7266 would extend an existing preemption of state, local, and tribal laws on public disclosure of government information. Although that preemption would limit the application of such laws, CBO estimates that H.R. 7266 would impose no duty on state, local, or tribal governments that would result in additional spending or a loss of revenues. Consequently, the cost of the mandate would not exceed the threshold established in the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act (UMRA) for intergovernmental mandates ($107 million in 2026, adjusted annually for inflation). H.R. 7266 contains no private-sector mandates as defined in UMRA. The CBO staff contacts for this estimate are Aaron Krupkin (for federal costs) and Lucy Marret (for mandates). The estimate was reviewed by H. Samuel Papenfuss, Deputy Director of Budget Analysis.
Phillip L. Swagel, Director, Congressional Budget Office.