Key Republicans say renewables are emerging as economic drivers in their states while a growing body of studies say sweeping slashes will hike energy costs.
Like its House counterpart, the Senate’s draft version of President Donald Trump’s fiscal 2026 budget rescinds billions in approved funding for solar, wind, hydrogen, and carbon capture initiatives authorized under 2022’s Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) and 2021’s Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA).
Both chambers’ spending plans largely replicate the president’s One Big Beautiful Bill by slashing allocations for “green energy” before 2032 expirations, with the Senate iteration extending some tax credits and loan support to 2028, two years longer than the House’s immediate terminations.
During the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee’s June 18 hearing on the Department of Energy’s (DOE) $46.3 billion budget request, Energy Secretary Chris Wright said a proposed 7 percent dip in his department’s annual spending—including a 26 percent gash in nondefense appropriations—is savings gleaned from consolidations and a streamlined refocus.
“This will enable DOE to return to its core mission of supporting projects most critical to America’s energy security while maintaining responsible stewardship of taxpayer dollars, something DOE failed to do in the previous administration,” he said, referring to budget cuts across the department’s two dozen-plus program offices, 17 national labs, and 83 field installations, along with enacted or proposed trims in its 14,300-person workforce and 94,000 contractors.
Wright said that since he took office, DOE has “begun slashing more than 47 regulations as part of the largest deregulatory effort in history” that will save “the American people approximately $11 billion.”
That’s in addition to $3.7 billion in clawbacks of funding for 24 projects authorized under the IRA and IIJA that a newly created review team discontinued in May—the first round in examining the fiscal viability of 500 projects set to receive $300 billion through 2032.
The IRA rolls out 10 years of tax credits, low-interest loans, and grant programs that, by some estimates, could top $1 trillion to subsidize renewable energy generation, supply chains, job creation, advanced manufacturing, and electric grid expansion.
With a consolidated DOE streamlined focus, annual budget cuts, and rescissions in downstream commitments through 2032 incorporated into the overall plan, Senate Finance Committee Chair Sen. Mike Crapo (R-Idaho) said the Senate’s draft version of the president’s budget “prevents an over-$4 trillion tax hike” in coming years in across-the-board federal spending.
Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee Chair Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah), during the June 18 hearing, commended Wright “for taking strong action to protect taxpayers’ dollars, including by canceling nearly $4 billion in funding for worthless IRA projects.”
Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) added: “Congress irresponsibly saddled you with a department with 71 new programs overseeing hundreds of billions of taxpayer dollars.
“I think that the situation is fraught with waste, fraud, and abuse, and it left the department, your department now, without a clear direction.”
But as became apparent during that initial DOE Senate budget hearing, the odds of Wright’s spending request, and Trump’s overall proposed FY26 budget, surviving intact appear slim.
While Democrats fiercely contested across-the-board “green energy” cuts, Republicans in the 53-47 GOP-led chamber also raised objections, citing concerns about national lab staffing and funding slashes and lobbying to restore or approve projects in their states.
The Senate is under pressure to kick the plan back to the House, where Republicans hold a slim 220-212 majority and Speaker Rep. Mike Johnson (R-La.) aims to get a bill onto the president’s desk by July 4.
Such a tight timeline in narrowly divided chambers won’t likely be achieved without concessions—especially in energy development and funding.
By John Haughey
