Democrats are raising the specter of a war on clean energy over reports that the White House will ask Congress for a 72 percent slashing of the Energy Department’s fiscal 2019 spending on clean energy research.
The president will release his budget request this month with the cuts included, according to a draft budget document obtained by the Washington Post.
Last year’s budget request had similar proposed cuts, which Congress rejected. Trump also slashed spending for fossil fuel programs in last year’s request to Congress.
But that didn’t stop outspoken Democrats such as Sens. Ed Markey of Massachusetts and Maria Cantwell of Washington from ringing the alarm bells.
“Now is not the time to slash funding for this promising research,” Sen. Cantwell said.
Cantwell, who is the top Democrat on the Energy and Natural Resources Committee, explained that “[c]lean energy has been one of the biggest job-creators over the past decade, and investment in these critical technologies are driving down energy costs to businesses and consumers.”
Markey said the cuts are nothing less than a declaration of war against solar, wind, and all forms of renewable energy.
“President Trump says he has ended the so-called war on coal, but he’s really declared a war on clean energy,” the senator said. “A clean energy revolution is happening across the globe, but President Trump wants to cede countless American clean energy jobs and the development of new technologies to China, Germany, India, and other nations.”
He called on Congress “to reject” Trump’s “fossil fuel-backed folly and embrace America’s clean energy economy that is creating millions of jobs and ensuring American competitiveness around the world.”
Markey is chairman of the Senate Climate Task Force.
