Lawmakers Debate Energy Department’s $3.7 Billion in ‘Green Energy’ Cuts

House panel Republicans praise Energy Secretary Chris Wright’s plan to slash his department’s non-defense spending and refocus on its ‘core mission.’

Energy Secretary Chris Wright displays the order he signed in March approving Delfin LNG LLC’s permit to begin exporting LNG from its offshore Louisiana terminal during an oil and gas conference in Houston. John Haughey/The Epoch Times

The Department of Energy’s $46.3 billion fiscal year 2026 budget request trims spending by 7 percent from this year’s $49.8 billion plan, slashing allocations for non-defense energy programs by 26 percent while increasing funding by 25 percent for the National Nuclear Security Administration, which manages the nation’s nuclear weapons programs.

The primary proposed cuts in the department’s discretionary spending are “green energy” initiatives adopted during the first two years of the Biden administration, clipping at least $3.7 billion in those programs in the fiscal year 2026 (FY26) budget and pulling the plug on nearly $20 billion in dedicated funding through 2032.

Energy Secretary Chris Wright said those cuts are necessary in realigning the department’s focus on its “core mission” to rapidly expand the nation’s energy production to win “the AI race” against China, reshore advanced manufacturing, and lower electricity costs for American businesses and consumers.

“America has a historic opportunity to secure our energy systems, propel scientific and technological innovation—including AI—maintain and strengthen our weapons stockpiles and meet Cold War legacy waste commitments,” he told the House Energy and Commerce’s Energy Subcommittee during a three-and-a-half-hour hearing on June 10.

“The next Manhattan Project is clearly AI,” Wright added. “The Department of Energy will advance this critical mission while cutting red tape, increasing efficiency, and ensuring we are better stewards of taxpayer dollars.”

Democrats—spearheaded by Reps. Kathy Castor (D-Fla.) and Frank Pallone (D-N.J.)—said President Donald Trump’s “one big beautiful” budget bill derails job-generating advancements in the same “clean energy” technologies China is now investing billions in, costing American jobs and raising energy costs for domestic consumers.

The proposed budget is “intentionally sabotaging progress” that saw 1,000 manufacturers reshored and created 400,000 new jobs in the last four years, Castor said. ”You seem happy to leave innovation to our competitors like the Chinese Communist Party.”

Citing an American Council on Renewable Energy report, backed by an E2.org study, she said at least $14 billion in private investment for solar, wind, and electric battery projects “are walking away” from the United States because “they can no longer trust the DOE” with proposed factories being cancelled or “moving to China and Mexico.”

Pallone said “the one big ugly bill” further “hollows out DOE” after the Department of Government Efficiency fired 3,500—13 percent—of its 13,000 staffers “and now the agency has lost experienced and valuable personnel with critical expertise.”

Pallone said that although the Trump administration and congressional Republicans say they’re focused on competing with China, “every action they take only leaves Americans further behind in the global energy race.”

“We were on the verge of a clean energy manufacturing renaissance and the Trump administration has ground that to a halt,” he said.

Republicans, including committee chair Rep. Brett Guthrie (R-Ky.) and subcommittee chair Rep. Bob Latta (R-Ohio), said the cuts and realignment of DOE priorities are to develop baseload power rather than investing in “intermittent” renewable energies.

Latta said the Biden administration allocated more than “$100 billion in new funding and $400 billion in loan authority” for green energy development at the expense of infrastructure such as pipelines and LNG export terminals, resulting in energy costs increasing by 25 percent.

“The previous administration seemingly issued financial assistance awards in a haphazard manner,” he said. “In fact, in the 76 days between election day and President Trump’s inauguration, the department issued almost $100 billion in new loans, compared to $43 billion in loans issued over the loan office’s 20-year lifespan.

“This level of government subsidies,” Latta continued, “was irresponsible and unsustainable, focused on misguided priorities, and was often done to the detriment of free markets and private enterprises.”

Wright said it was “deeply concerning how many billions of dollars were rushed out the door without proper due diligence in the final days of the Biden administration,” which is why his department terminated 24 projects “totaling over $3.7 billion in taxpayer-funded financial assistance.”

“These projects failed to meet the economic, national security or energy security standards necessary to sustain DOE’s investment, and the taxpayers should not be forced to subsidize them,” he said.

Wright said through deregulation and accelerated permitting, the administration “is entirely focused on unleashing private capital—getting government out of the way—to grow and expand our supply of reliable and firm electricity. That’s priority number one.”

The cuts will narrow the focus on what’s needed to “meet the moment,” he said.

“We will invest DOE’s resources in [energy] sources and technologies that support affordable, reliable, secure energy, and provide a return on investment for the American taxpayers,” Wright said. “We will return the department to its core mission and eliminate spending on projects that failed to provide such a return, fail to advance our energy needs, and fail the test of economic viability.”