US Fusion Pioneers Call on Congress for $10 Billion Boost to Outpace China

Lawmakers, administration officials told industry leaders and investors in Washington that prospects for increased funding under a new ‘roadmap’ are promising.

More than 200 people attend the Fusion Industry Association’s first-ever U.S. Fusion Forum at Union Station in Washington on Oct. 15, 2025. The Epoch Times/John Haughey

WASHINGTON—Breakthroughs in replicating the energy that fires the sun have come fast and furious since 2022, when U.S. Department of Energy scientists in a Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory experiment produced more energy than expended, spurring interest and investment in fusion.

But to sustain cutting-edge momentum in “putting a star in a jar” before China does, a U.S.-led “coalition of the ambitious” needs lightning in a bottle—an urgent $10 billion bolt in federal fusion funding—advocates told Trump administration officials and key House members at the Fusion Industry Association’s first-ever U.S. Fusion Forum on Oct. 15.