Environmental and renewable energy advocates are not surprised to see their priorities skewered in President Donald Trump’s budget request. Their question now is whether enough Congressional Republicans will be willing to defend against deep cuts to energy and infrastructure spending.
The fiscal-year 2026 budget, issued on Friday, would cut non-defense discretionary spending by $163 billion, down 23 percent from the current budget, according to Trump’s Office of Management and Budget. The fiscal year begins on Oct. 1.
Many aspects of the request were already covered by Trump executive orders that seek to reduce government support for renewable energy and environmental justice. The Trump administration released this proposal months after a February statutory deadline. Republicans in Congress have already done extensive work on the 2026 budget.
All of these factors may reduce the significance of Trump’s budget request as a factor in crafting an actual budget. But the document is still important as a distillation of the administration’s priorities.
“I certainly hope that more strategic and less ideological heads prevail,” said Harrison Godfrey, who oversees lobbying for Advanced Energy United, a trade group whose members have interests in wind, solar and batteries, among others.
He is optimistic that there are enough Republicans in the House and Senate who see the value of investing in clean energy and will want to stop some of the most extreme cuts.
Godfrey criticized the budget request for seemingly defunding programs based on keywords, such as environmental justice and renewable energy.
“This feels like a budget process by Control F,” he said, referring to the keystroke that allows a user to search for certain words.
He plans to argue to members of Congress that renewable energy and batteries are among the technologies that are essential for an economy with abundant and affordable energy, and he expects that members from both parties will be receptive.
The cuts in Trump’s budget request include $15 billion in funding authorized by the 2021 Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, also known as the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, for renewable energy and reducing carbon emissions, and an additional $6 billion to help set up an electric vehicle charging network cut from the same law.
“The recommended funding levels result from a rigorous, line-by-line review of FY 2025 spending, which was found to be laden with spending contrary to the needs of ordinary working Americans and tilted toward funding niche non-governmental organizations and institutions of higher education committed to radical gender and climate ideologies antithetical to the American way of life,” said Russell Vought, director of the Office of Management and Budget, in a cover letter submitting the budget to Congress.
The budget also cuts spending at the Environmental Protection Agency for research grants and environmental justice programs and climate research programs at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, among others.
Some of the largest percentage cuts are at EPA, with a proposed budget of $4.2 billion, down 55 percent from the current year, and the National Science Foundation, with a proposed budget of $3.9 billion, down 56 percent from FY2025.
The Department of Energy would see a cut of $2.5 billion from its Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, which pays for research on renewable energy and electric vehicles.
“President Trump is committed to eliminating funding for the globalist climate agenda while unleashing American energy production,” reads a fact sheet titled “Ending the Green New Scam,” released in conjunction with the budget.
Energy Secretary Chris Wright praised Trump’s plan.
“This is a consequential moment in American history—thanks to President Trump’s leadership, the Energy Department has an opportunity to help the nation restore energy dominance, lead the world in innovation, and modernize our nuclear weapons stockpiles,” he said in a statement.
Environmental and renewable energy advocates responded with alarm.
“President Trump’s newly unveiled, draconian budget lands like a wrecking ball on America’s environment and public health—slashing billions from the EPA, Bureau of Land Management, and Fish and Wildlife Services,” said Camden Weber, climate and energy policy specialist at the Center for Biological Diversity, in a statement.
Congress can accept or reject what Trump is proposing. More than 20 House Republicans have indicated support for maintaining at least some of the renewable energy tax incentives passed during the administration of President Joe Biden.
Several Republican senators have similar views. Among them is Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, who said she doesn’t like what she sees in the Trump request.
“This request has come to Congress late, and key details still remain outstanding,” she said in a statement. “Based on my initial review, however, I have serious objections to the proposed freeze in our defense funding given the security challenges we face and to the proposed funding cuts to—and in some cases elimination of—programs like LIHEAP, TRIO, and those that support biomedical research.”
But many more Republicans said they support Trump’s budget priorities.
“President Trump’s budget is a battle plan for restoring economic freedom and fiscal sanity in Washington before it’s too late,” said Rep. Jodey Arrington (R-Texas), the chair of the House Budget Committee, in a statement.
Democrats, who have little power to influence the budget process, responded to Trump’s plan with derision.
“This budget is exactly what we expected: a betrayal of hardworking, middle-class families that shows the President’s singular focus is slashing essential government programs in order to fund more tax breaks for his billionaire buddies,” said Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), the top Democrat on the Senate Budget Committee, in a statement. “This is not what the American people voted for, and it is sure as hell not the answer to sky-high costs that families, seniors, veterans, and workers are facing.”
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Dan Gearino covers the business and policy of renewable energy and utilities, often with an emphasis on the midwestern United States. He is the main author of ICN’s Inside Clean Energy newsletter. He came to ICN in 2018 after a nine-year tenure at The Columbus Dispatch, where he covered the business of energy. Before that, he covered politics and business in Iowa and in New Hampshire. He grew up in Warren County, Iowa, just south of Des Moines, and lives in Columbus, Ohio.
