The DOE's shift isn't a line-item cut visible in a congressional appropriations fight — it's an internal reallocation inside a flat or modestly growing budget. That structural feature is what makes it hard to oppose through normal channels. Nuclear physicists at national laboratories received notification in March of roughly a third reduction in program budgets for fiscal year 2026, with the redirected money moving toward AI-adjacent initiatives within the same agency. No vote, no public hearing, no policy announcement — just a message in the inbox of researchers whose careers…