House slashes funding for clean energy, restores funding for fossil fuelresearch
The House of Representatives voted Thursday to approve a large spending bill for fiscal year 2018 that slashes clean energy spending and approves keeping fossil fuel research at current levels.
In a spending package known as the minibus, the House voted to set the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energys (EERE) budget at $1.1 billion, a 45 percent cut from the offices fiscal 2017 budget of more than $2 billion. The Trump administration requested an even bigger cut for the Department of Energy office that would have lowered its budget to to $636 million, or 70 percent, below the 2017 budget.
The funding measure passed 235192, with five Democrats voting for, five Republicans voting against, and six representatives abstaining. It still needs approval from the Senate before it passes into law a thin possibility, given the largely partisan House vote.
Rep. David McKinley (R-WV) succeeded in getting an amendment passed that restored the governments fossil fuel research funding to the FY17 level of $668 million. The Trump administration had sought a 55 percent cut in the DOEs Office of Fossil Energy Research and Development.
https://thinkprogress.org/house-slashes-funding-for-clean-energy-in-spending-bill-3e656aef1074