Illustration: Tiffany Herring/Axios
Top GOP appropriators appear ready to go along with some of the Energy Department's cuts to funding and staff in the upcoming spending cycle.
Why it matters: The Elon Musk–driven cuts that DOE is proposing will cause conflicts with Congress — but Republicans aren't ready to pump the brakes just yet.
- DOE officials plan to shut down the Office of Clean Energy Demonstrations and terminate nearly half its funding, as Axios scooped last week.
Driving the news: Rep. Chuck Fleischmann, the top House energy-water appropriator, told Axios that OCED's role "needs to be examined."
- "It's going to be interesting to see what they do with that," he said. "There's certainly things that could be put in other portfolios."
- Fleischmann pointed specifically to OCED's advanced nuclear demonstration projects, which he said could be rolled into DOE's larger nuclear energy office.
- "I'm waiting to see what the president does in that budget," he said. "I've not had that conversation [with DOE]."
John Kennedy, the Senate's top energy appropriator, wasn't concerned about the cuts and said he had plans to root out places to cut in funding conversations.
- "I'm sure they've got a lot of waste at the Department of Energy, like everybody else," he told Axios. "I want to get rid of the waste."
- DOE is also considering laying off thousands of employees it considers "nonessential."
- Asked about that, Fleischmann noted that the federal employees overseeing national lab contractors in his Tennessee district have been "exemplary."
The other side: Democrats have criticized the cuts as indiscriminate and illegal.
- "We did hear they're, as with every department, overreaching, and they're causing chaos to create apprehension," said Rep. Marcy Kaptur, the top Democrat on the energy and water panel.
Zoom in: OCED was authorized by the bipartisan infrastructure law and formally established by the Biden administration in 2021.
- The DOE proposal that Daniel obtained last week subtly acknowledged that the administration would need Congress to fully close the office.
- It suggested winding down operations and recommending "explicitly shutting down OCED and realigning operations" in President Trump's fiscal 2026 budget.
- "It's like a thief saying 'I'll knock out a few windows and then come back and rob the house tonight,'" Sen. Angus King, who sits on DOE's Senate authorizing committee, told Axios. "These are congressionally established programs."
Between the lines: Fleischmann's subcommittee proposed a large cut to OCED's budget in fiscal 2025 and encouraged it to use billions in existing funds "to consider technology demonstrations in high-emitting and historically difficult-to-abate sectors."
- Senate appropriators, at the time led by Democrats, were more generous with a $125 million recommendation.
- That's all moot for the moment, given the full-year CR.
- But assuming there's any kind of normal process for fiscal 2026, Republicans will have to grapple with Senate Democrats who want to keep OCED funded.
