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The cuts come as Republicans are facing pressure to lower household costs like energy bills
Josh Marcusin San FranciscoTuesday 25 November 2025 22:27 GMTComments
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Senate Republicans have introduced a spending bill that cuts millions from energy programs, including a 25 percent cut to a Department of Energy office that aims to develop and upgrade the U.S. energy grid.
Sen. John Kennedy, the Republican chair of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Energy and Water Development, called the bill “a responsible step toward cutting bloated spending while bolstering America’s defense and energy infrastructures” in a statement on Monday.
The bill would reduce spending 1.1 percent overall, including a 6.5 percent cut to non-defense spending and a 25 percent cut to the DOE’s Grid Deployment Office.
The proposal, which needs to be reconciled with a House energy appropriations bill, was released without the blessing of ranking member Sen. Patty Murray, who told Politico the proposal was a “partisan” effort that left her “disappointed by the cuts to critical clean energy programs.”
In its fiscal year 2026 budget request, the Department of Energy had requested a 75 percent cut to the grid office, part of the Trump administration’s ongoing shift away from renewables and toward investment in nuclear fusion and fossil fuels.
open image in gallerySenate Republicans on Monday released a proposal that would make steep cuts to a Department of Energy office which aims to modernize the U.S.’s aging energy grid (AFP via Getty Images)Earlier this year, the administration canceled more than $2 billion in funding for efforts across 25 states under the Grid Resilience and Innovation Partnership Program, which aims to harden the electricity system against extreme weather.
The cuts come despite pressure on Republicans to reduce household bills on essentials like energy, which have spiked throughout the year in part because of an aging U.S. electric grid, where much of the infrastructure is 50 to 75 years old. The Department of Energy has estimated it will cost hundreds of billions of dollars over the next two decades to bring the electric grid up to modern standards.
Increased energy demands from AI data centers and electric vehicles have only compounded the energy price issue, and prices are expected to continue rising through 2026.
"It's like a two-way highway that was built decades ago that's now expected to carry rush-hour traffic to and from a major city every time — every day of the year [there are] more cars, bigger trucks, constant congestion," Sen. Mike Lee, chairman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, said at a July hearing.
open image in galleryElectric vehicles and AI data centers are expected to continue driving high demand for energy in 2026, and energy prices are expected to keep rising (AFP via Getty Images)Grid modernization could also help states prepare for the impacts of climate change by weatherizing equipment to avoid crises like the 2021 Texas blackouts, in which numerous residents died when high demand for energy during a winter storm buckled the state’s electricity system.
During the 2026 midterms, the energy funding cuts could come back to haunt Republicans, who fared poorly in recent off-year elections where voters listed affordability issues as a top concern.
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