DOE Secretary Defends Proposed Budget Cuts, Denies Freezing Funds

Energy Secretary Chris Wright testified yesterday that he supports the White House’s proposed cuts to the Department of Energy, which include a 14% cut to the DOE Office of Science.

Appearing before House appropriators to defend President Donald Trump’s budget request for fiscal year 2026, Wright said DOE and specifically its 17 national laboratories “are capable of doing more with less.”

“We can both increase efficiency and drive innovation,” Wright said. “We must prioritize research that supports true technological breakthroughs, such as nuclear fusion, high-performance computing, quantum computing, and AI, which will maintain America’s global competitiveness.”

Rep. Chuck Fleischmann (R-TN), chair of the House Energy-Water Appropriations Subcommittee, applauded Wright’s efforts to streamline operations at DOE but quickly pivoted to his budget concerns.

“While we still are awaiting the full details of the president’s fiscal year 2026 budget request, candidly, I’m concerned to see such a significant reduction for the Office of Science,” Fleischmann said. The proposal would reduce the office’s budget to about $7 billion, returning the office to the funding level it had five years ago.

While Fleischmann said he is pleased to see “strong support” for DOE’s National Nuclear Security Administration in the budget, he stressed the proposed 25% budget boost, worth $6 billion, should be part of NNSA’s base discretionary budget request and not rely on the reconciliation process.

“It is imperative that we fully commit to the continued modernization of our nuclear weapons complex in order to rebuild our capacity, increase our capability, and respond more quickly to today’s global security landscape,” Fleischmann said. “We cannot take this incredible enterprise that has maintained peace and stability for 80 years for granted.”

Rep. Marcy Kaptur (D-OH), the top Democrat on the subcommittee, sharply criticized the budget proposal, citing a “devastating 74% cut to energy efficiency and renewable energy” that she said is “not just short-sighted, it is dangerous.”

“Since January, the Department of Energy has suspended critical energy programs, canceled executed awards and contracts authorized by this Congress, severely reduced staffing, including removal of the Inspector General who tries to go after the crooks, and changed contracting policies,” Kaptur said.

Kaptur later chided Wright for not responding to multiple letters from Congress requesting information on the department’s decision to “freeze funding to vital energy programs,” fire NNSA workers and other DOE staff, and set an “arbitrary 15% cap on indirect costs for university research grants, which are going to have significant impact across the country.”

In response, Wright said he has received numerous letters “accusing me of things that are reported in headlines, in blog posts, and media all over the place, almost all of which are false.”

“We have not frozen funding. We don’t have a single unpaid invoice at our department, not one,” Wright said. He added that the department has not cancelled any projects so far but acknowledged it plans to put “hundreds” through a new review process.

Asked by Kaptur why the department is reviewing projects that have already been approved and allocated funding by Congress, Wright said the Biden administration rushed to award funding before Trump’s inauguration, especially through the Loan Programs Office. Wright also read aloud the list of review criteria the department is using, which include whether the project is based on viable technology, is marketable, creates jobs, has a financial model for attracting funding from sources beyond DOE, adds to national or economic security, and whether it aligns with “this agenda.”

Kaptur replied, “This is a very strange process, because those dollars were to be spent already as we work toward the [FY26] budget.”

Pressed on when he planned to respond to letters from Congress, Wright did not make a commitment, saying if he “was to respond to the dozens of letters I’ve got, it would be the majority of my time” but that he was “happy to jump on the phone at any time to talk to you or others about it.” Kaptur said his response is “disappointing” and “speaks for itself.”

In addition to denying freezing funds, Wright disputed that thousands of staff had left the department since January, stating that “less than 1,000” employees have left DOE. He noted, however, that more staff will be expected to leave in the coming months, largely as a result of voluntary early retirement and delayed resignation programs.

“We’ve been given a mandate from the whole administration to look like a businessman at all the departments and figure out how you can deliver improved services at lower cost inefficiencies,” Wright said. “I’m a believer that with a leaner, more focused team, we can deliver better results,” he added.

Media reports suggest that DOE has made two deferred resignation offers to its staff since January, which more than 3,000 staff have accepted. The agency’s preliminary reduction in force (RIF) plan, submitted to the Trump administration in March, reportedly identified around 9,000 positions out of approximately 16,000 as “essential.”