It’s that time of year again, and President Donald Trump’s fiscal 2020 budget request is set to be released on Monday. In the federal budget request, the Trump administration calls for slashing funding for the Department of Energy’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, from its current level of $2.3 billion to $700 million, or roughly 70 percent, reports Bloomberg.
The request is more of a ploy by the administration to reconcile Trump’s base, according to Mike Carr, who served as the No. 2 official within the division under President Barack Obama. “It’s a shutdown budget. That’s apparently what they want to signal to their base — they still want to shut these programs down,” he said.
It is very doubtful that Congress will give Trump what he wants, though, especially with Democrats being the majority in the House, but many think the figure represents a point to start bargaining, maybe.
“President Trump’s annual attack on clean energy research is a brazen ploy to gin up support from the fossil fuel industry,” said EWG President Ken Cook. “This latest attempt to roll back the clean energy revolution will fail. Even members of Congress who represent deep red districts and states understand how important the renewable energy sector is to the economy.”
Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy
The Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy provides millions of dollars every year in grants and other financial assistance for clean energy. The agency finances research into a range of technologies – including electric vehicles, energy projects powered by ocean waves and even carbon-capture in power plants.
The agency is credited with financing the research that made the cost of wind power competitive with coal and with cutting the costs of LED lighting.
This is not the first time Trump has tried to gut the department’s budget. Last year, the administration’s proposed budget called for cutting funding to the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy by two-thirds. Instead, Congress provided $2.3 billion for the agency, more than three times the White House’s request.
“By pushing these ‘message budgets,’ they’re making sure that appropriators in both parties completely dismiss them,” said Jeff Navin, who served as acting chief of staff for Ernest Moniz, President Barack Obama’s energy secretary. “They’re so far out of the mainstream that they don’t actually influence the budget debate.”
Daniel Simmons, the Energy Department assistant secretary who heads the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, testified before Congress on Thursday and noted his division had recently completed funding announcements for research into hydrogen and batteries for heavy-duty trucks, among other technologies.
Michigan Republican Representative Fred Upton told Simmons that Congress expected his office “to carry out the law as Congress intended and utilize the resources Congress provides.”
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