Today, the Trump Administration released its outline for a fiscal year 2018 federal budget, which begins on October 1. The outline represents a fairly high overview of how the Trump Administration would like to see dollars allocated to the individual government departments. The document does not go into how money would be specifically allocated within each individual department. For example, it has been reported that the Trump Administration is pursuing a funding level for the Department of Energy's (DOE) Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), which promulgates efficiency standards, of $1.4 billion, which is a $700 million dollar reduction in EERE’s current level of funding.
Overall, the budget proposes a $54 billion increase in defense spending in 2018 that is offset by targeted reductions in other federal departments. One item of concern for APGA is that the budget proposed the elimination of the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance (LIHEAP), which is currently funded at $4.2 billion. LIHEAP is a federal block grant program that provides money to low-income individuals/families to help them meet their energy needs. APGA has consistently pushed for full funding, $5.1 billion, for LIHEAP. The budget requests $28.0 billion for DOE, a $1.7 billion or 5.6 percent decrease from the 2017 level. The budget boosts DOE funding for maintenance of the nuclear weapons stockpile, but outside of that program DOE’s budget would be cut by 17.9 percent. The budget also requests $5.7 billion for the Environmental Protection Agency, a 31 percent reduction from the 2017 funding level. Part of this reduction would include eliminating funding for the Clean Power Plan and Energy Star Program.
It has been reported that a more detailed budget request from the Administration to Congress will be released in May. Ultimately, federal spending is determined by Congress but with a Republican White House and Republican Congress it is anticipated that the Administration will have considerable influence in how the dollars are allocated. For questions on this article, please contact Dave Schryver of APGA staff by phone at 202-464-2742 or by email at
dschryver@apga.org.