As Energy Department Allocates Funds in Defiance of Spending Law, Kaptur and Murray Renew Call for GAO to Investigate Misuse of Clean Energy Funding
Washington, DC — Today—as the Department of Energy (DOE) makes funding available in defiance of the fiscal year 2025 continuing resolution—Congresswoman Marcy Kaptur (D-OH-09), Ranking Member of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Energy and Water Development, and Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), Vice Chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee and Ranking Member of the Subcommittee on Energy and Water Development renewed their request that the Government Accountability Office (GAO) issue a legal decision on whether DOE’s allocation of these funds violated key appropriations laws by shifting hundreds of millions of dollars provided for research and development of clean energy sources to President Trump’s favored industries.
In a joint statement, Congresswoman Kaptur and Senator Murray said:
“The Department of Energy’s fiscal year 2025 spend plan is no longer just a proposal—it is now being carried out in defiance of requirements set by Congress. The Trump administration is unilaterally steering hundreds of millions of dollars from a diversified portfolio of clean energy technologies to help prop up energy technologies favored by the Secretary. These spending decisions undermine American energy leadership, raising costs for American families and businesses and threatening jobs. Secretary Wright is not above the law—he cannot provide more funding than Congress has provided so that he can help out handpicked industries. Today, we’re reiterating our call on DOE to start following the law—and our ask that GAO determine whether the Department of Energy’s spend plan violates critical appropriations laws.”
Earlier today, DOE issued a Notice of Funding Opportunity making $146.5 Million in fiscal year 2025 funding available for geothermal, while Congress had only provided $118 Million. This marks the first tranche of funding that DOE is allocating in defiance of the sums provided by Congress for fiscal year 2025.
The fiscal year 2025 full-year continuing resolution that House Republicans wrote and that President Trump signed into law continued fiscal year 2024 funding level for key clean energy investments, but DOE’s spend plan released last year revealed it is shifting hundreds of millions of dollars designated by Congress for certain clean energy technologies to the administration’s handpicked and favored industries—undermining American energy leadership, raising costs for American families and businesses, threatening jobs, and killing domestic innovation.
Last July, Kaptur and Murray asked GAO to investigate whether DOE’s FY25 spend plan violated the Purpose Statute, which dictates that appropriations only be used for the purposes for which the appropriations were provided unless otherwise provided for by law, and the Antideficiency Act, which prohibits federal agencies from spending funds in advance of or in excess of an appropriation made by Congress. Today, the lawmakers renewed their request for GAO to issue a legal decision.
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