Newly-signed federal spending bill spares energy research for 4 months

(credit: Stephen Melkisethian)

On Friday afternoon, President Trump signed a bipartisan spending bill negotiated in the House to fund the federal government through September 30, 2017. The bill contained funding for energy-related programs and offices that the president has called to be defunded. And, late this week, the Department of Energy (DOE) internally announced a cancellation of its grant freeze.

The omnibus spending bill was put together by House representatives over the previous weekend to avert a government shutdown. The bill was approved by the Senate on Thursday, and, with Trump's signature, it became official.

Within the bill, the DOE's Office of Science will get an extra $42 million for the 2017 fiscal year. Trump's 2018 budget proposal wants to cut funding for this office by $900 million. That same 2018 budget proposal also called for the elimination of the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E), but this week's spending bill will provide ARPA-E $306 million, reflecting a $15 million increase from the year 2016.

Read 4 remaining paragraphs | Comments