Overview

The President's fiscal year (FY) 2018 budget request, America First: A Budget Blueprint to Make America Great Again, includes $28.0 billion for the Department of Energy (DOE), $1.7 billion (5.6%) less than the FY2016 enacted level of $29.7 billion. While this request would reduce the total budget for DOE, it would increase funding for the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) and cleanup programs within the Office of Environmental Management. The request would reduce funding for the Office of Science; the offices of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), Nuclear Energy (NE), and Electricity Delivery and Energy Reliability (OE); and the Fossil Energy Research and Development (R&D) program (herein referred to as "selected energy offices and programs") and would eliminate the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E), Weatherization Assistance Program, State Energy Program, Title XVII Innovative Technology Loan Guarantee Program, and Advanced Technology Vehicle Manufacturing (ATVM) Loan Program. (See Figure 1.)

Figure 1. Department of Energy Budget Comparison FY2016 Enacted vs. Approximate FY2018 Request

Source: Office of Management and Budget, The White House, America First: A Budget Blueprint to Make America Great Again, March 2017; S.Rept. 114-236. Notes: FY2016 enacted appropriations are used for comparison because FY2017 appropriations are currently provided by a part-year continuing resolution (P.L. 114-254) that expires on April 28, 2017. It is assumed that FY2016 spending would represent annualized FY2017 spending referenced in the budget blueprint. FY2018 requested amounts are approximations. "Other" refers to programs and expenditures not explicitly referenced in the President's FY2018 budget blueprint. "Energy" refers to the offices of EERE, NE, OE, and Fossil Energy (FE), which includes Fossil Energy R&D. "Science" refers to the Office of Science.

Comparison with FY2016 Enacted Appropriations

Proposed changes to the DOE budget are illustrated in Figure 1, which compares FY2016 enacted levels to the approximate FY2018 request. The requested increase in NNSA funding for FY2018 is $1.4 billion (11% increase over FY2016 enacted). Additionally, the budget request would provide $120 million to restart licensing activities for the proposed Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository and to initiate an interim nuclear waste storage program. The Environmental Management budget request of $6.5 billion is an increase of $200-$300 million (4-5% over FY2016 enacted).

The Office of Science would be reduced by approximately $900 million (17%) to approximately $4.45 billion from the enacted FY2016 level of $5.35 billion. According to the request, this funding would support investment in the highest priority basic science research, energy R&D, and operation and maintenance of scientific facilities.

The budget would request a $2 billion (48%) decrease for selected energy offices and programs. For comparison, these energy offices and programs received $4.1 billion in FY2016. The FY2018 approximate request of $2.1 billion would focus funding on limited, early-stage applied energy research and development. Two programs within EERE would be eliminated: Weatherization Assistance Program and State Energy Program.

Other activities that would be eliminated under the FY2018 budget request include Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E), Title 17 Innovative Technology Loan Guarantee Program, and ATVM Loan Program. Table 1 shows a summary of changes included in the request.

Issues and Considerations

Limited information is currently available about the details of the FY2018 budget request and how proposed funding reductions would be applied to specific programs within DOE. Funding reductions specified for energy programs only account for $264.6 million of the $2 billion overall reduction sought for these programs. It is uncertain how overall reductions would be allocated and prioritized among individual offices, programs, or activities.

The proposed elimination of the Title XVII Loan Guarantee Program and ATVM Loans would affect administration of the programs and preclude any future loans, but would not affect the loans and loan guarantees that have already been issued. Much of the Title XVII administrative budget is offset by fees collected from borrowers and applicants, and one of the administrative functions of the office is to monitor the performance of outstanding loans and loan guarantees. The budget request does not provide details regarding how the existing loan and loan guarantee portfolio would be monitored if these cuts were to proceed as proposed.

ARPA-E obligates the entire amount of funding for multi-year projects in the year of the award. For example, projects awarded in FY2016 are funded in their entirety with FY2016 funds although funds are often distributed over a multi-year period as projects proceed and milestones are met. The budget request does not describe how the administration of remaining funds to existing projects would be managed if the proposed elimination were to proceed.

For additional information regarding FY2017 appropriations for DOE, see CRS Report R44465, Energy and Water Development: FY2017 Appropriations.