South Carolina Policy Council

BREAKING: Nancy Lacore (D) and Jenny Costa Honeycutt (R) head to the general election for South Carolina’s 1st congressional district

BREAKING: David Stumbo has won the Republican runoff for South Carolina Attorney General

BREAKING: Cody Simpson has won the Republican runoff for South Carolina Agriculture Commissioner

BREAKING: Alan Wilson has won the Republican runoff for South Carolina Governor

Department of Energy Announces American Nuclear Supply Chain Loans

U.S. Department of Energy

Financing will help rebuild America's nuclear supply chain and accelerate deployment of 10 new large-scale reactors

WASHINGTON—The U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Office of Energy Dominance Financing (EDF) issued a conditional loan commitment to finance the purchase of long-lead time items needed to rebuild America’s commercial nuclear supply chain. The $17.5 billion American Nuclear Supply Chain Loans will help finance five eligible projects sponsored by utilities and energy companies nationwide to accelerate the deployment of 10 large-scale commercial nuclear reactors across the United States by up to three years.

The project marks a major step toward advancing President Trump’s Executive Order, Reinvigorating the Nuclear Industrial Base, by supporting the objective of having 10 new large nuclear reactors with complete designs under construction by 2030.

“Just over one year ago, President Trump directed the Energy Department and its agency partners to unleash the next American nuclear renaissance,” U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright said. “To accomplish that mission, these conditional loans will play an important role in reviving the supply chain needed for America to once again build large-scale commercial reactors. They will also help accelerate the timeline of building those large-scale reactors by up to three years, lowering construction costs and ensuring the United States is able to deliver on President Trump’s bold and ambitious energy addition agenda.”

Westinghouse’s AP1000® units are the only licensed large-scale advanced commercial reactors operating in the United States today. Long-lead items are complex components of a nuclear power plant that require the longest time for manufacturing and delivery.
EDF financing will support up to five loans, each loan supporting two reactors at a project site. Westinghouse will partner with up to five eligible utilities and energy companies nationwide to procure the long-lead items at a fixed price.

Each project will be jointly owned by Westinghouse and a utility or energy company partner. Both Westinghouse and the partner are required to fully commit their project equity, $500 million each ($1 billion total per project), upfront prior to accessing DOE loan funds. Purchasing for each project will be staggered based on the timing of equity commitments and other relevant factors. Westinghouse has signed letters of intent with seven potential partners, each with identified project sites.
Each of the 10 AP1000® reactors will generate 1.1 GW of power, with the combined power output from all 10 reactors providing enough electricity to power nearly 10 million American households. The loan facilities’ bulk equipment purchase order structure creates a strong commitment to restarting the nation’s nuclear industry by providing the necessary financing for rebuilding the American nuclear supply chain. In doing so, the loan facilities drive down costs for individual nuclear components, create significant supply chain efficiencies, and shorten timelines for nuclear deployment by up to three years.

While this conditional commitment from EDF indicates the Department’s intent to provide a loan to finance the projects, DOE and the company must satisfy certain technical, legal, environmental, and financial conditions before the Department enters definitive financing documents and funds the loan.

Run it back for the runoff!

SCPC CEO Michael Burris will be joining Fox Carolina News tonight for political analysis as election results roll in.

It’s runoff Election Day in South Carolina, and the poll lines are short!

Make sure to take a moment and vote to advance individual liberty, free markets, limited government, and S.C. values.

Voting ends at 7pm! Best of luck to all candidates.

Hear from Research Director Sam Aaron, author of SCPC’s Saturday email newsletter: A quick update on the legislature and upcoming runoffs…

Good morning,

I wanted to take a moment to provide an update on where things stand in the South Carolina Legislature.

As I am sure many of you have seen, this was a very successful year for the South Carolina Policy Council. We accomplished many of the priorities outlined in our 2025-2026 Legislative Agenda. If you would like to read more about those victories, I encourage you to click here. https://www.scpolicycouncil.org/2026_session_recap_major_progress_on_scpc_backed_reforms

That said, something rather unusual is taking place at the Statehouse. Typically, by this point in the year, the legislature has completed work on the state budget and sent it to the governor's desk. However, we are still awaiting final deliberations from the budget conference committee.

As of the time I am writing this email, no conference committee meeting has been scheduled on the Statehouse calendar. However, both the House and Senate are scheduled to reconvene on Thursday, June 25. That leads me to believe there is a possibility that a conference committee meeting will be held beforehand to finalize a budget agreement for consideration by both chambers.

I also want to make you aware of an important date on the calendar. On Tuesday, June 23, statewide runoff elections will take place.
While the South Carolina Policy Council does not endorse candidates, we believe voters should have access to as much information as possible about the policy positions of those seeking public office. To help accomplish that goal, we conducted interviews with as many candidates as possible and encourage you to take some time to watch them before casting your ballot.
Click on a candidate's name below to watch their interview:

Governor
Lt. Governor Pamela Evette
https://youtu.be/ki13220hrM0?is=HvO0J91_7t0q6W2W
Attorney General Alan Wilson
https://youtu.be/mhLLPKnUHN0?is=SzHB4L-pvcCT1Z7O

Attorney General
Stephen Goldfinch
https://youtu.be/iuU_gfiohm4?is=O2yYZt8TqjFra272
David Stumbo
https://youtu.be/sl--j7hvPaA?is=lHfPf1U4yHcFANsG
We hope you find these interviews informative and helpful as you prepare to vote.

As always, we will continue monitoring the budget process and providing updates as developments occur. To stay informed, I encourage you to follow us on social media, particularly on X and Facebook.
Thank you for your continued support of the South Carolina Policy Council.

All the best,
Sam Aaron
Research Director
South Carolina Policy Council

A conference committee on H.4337 has granted the Legislative Audit Council (LAC) subpoena power.

Any person noncompliant with an LAC audit will be guilty of a misdemeanor and can be fined up to $1,000 or imprisoned up to one year. Convicted officers and employees of the State may be dismissed from office or employment.

Permission from the Speaker of the House or President of the Senate will be required to issue a subpoena, and there will be no direct appointments of LAC members.

The General Assembly will elect members in a joint session from nominees presented by the nominating committee.

Legislators cannot be elected to the LAC.

Ex officio members will still include Chairmen of the House and Senate Judiciary Committees, along with Senate Finance Committee and House Ways and Means Committee Chairmen (or their committee designees). These are voting members, but not on matters pertaining to auditing functions.

Subpoenas can only be issued to the extent of public funds, but private organizations are still included.

State agency executive sessions are excluded.

This legislation now heads to both chambers for adoption, ratification, and signage by the governor.

❌ The Senate Finance Committee streamed 81% of its meetings last year, but this year only 68% of its meetings were streamed. 15 of the 22 meetings not streamed were budget hearings.

❌ The Senate Banking and Insurance Committee streamed just one of its 14 meetings in 2026. This continues a trend set last year when it only streamed one of its eight meetings.

Last year, we cited the Senate Education Committee as needing to work on transparency after only streaming 53% of its meetings.

✅ This year, the committee maintained a perfect streaming record, demonstrating how quickly a committee can improve its transparency.

The Policy Council has long advocated and will continue to advocate for legislation requiring all committee meetings to be livestreamed and archived.