A stark proposed budget cut for DOE

The President’s Budget for fiscal year 2027 was released earlier this month - while it’s just the Administration’s proposal (actual appropriations will be enacted by Congress later this year), it’s a worthwhile barometer of the Administration’s goals. For the Department of Energy (DOE), the proposal is a stark cut, representing an 11% reduction from enacted FY26 levels for civilian energy programs. As expected, the proposal aligns with the fossil fuel-oriented restructuring that started last year, including $15 billion in Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act rescissions alongside large transfers to baseload programs and major cuts to most renewable energy offices (worth noting that transfers of this scale would require additional cancellations of obligated awards - it’s not clear where this stands). Former DOE staff at the DOE Alumni Network published a helpful summary that highlights some of the less-expected pieces - for example, the budget proposes rescissions to:

1. the same grid accounts that funded DOE’s recent SPARK solicitation

2. accounts supporting hydropower facilities that the same budget proposes targeting with the Baseload Power program

3. critical minerals processing and recycling programs that the administration announced a new solicitation for last month.