DOE Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) Appropriations, FY2026

The U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE's) Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) is responsible for renewable energy and end-use energy efficiency technology development. Other activities include issuing grants for home energy efficiency and state energy planning, establishing minimum energy conservation standards for appliances and equipment, and providing technical support.

EERE collaborates with industry, academia, national laboratories, and others to conduct and support research, development, demonstration, and deployment activities. EERE also manages programs that support state and local governments, tribes, and schools. EERE oversees and supports the research and infrastructure of the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, including its research and development of technologies for renewable energy and energy efficiency.

EERE Appropriations

EERE generally receives funding through the annual Energy and Water Development and Related Agencies (EWD) appropriations bill. The Full-Year Continuing Appropriations and Extensions Act, 2025 (P.L. 119-4) was signed by President Trump on March 15, 2025, providing annual appropriations for FY2025 at the FY2024 level for nearly all accounts, or $3.460 billion for EERE (Division D of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2024; P.L. 118-42).

In addition, EERE received funding through the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA; P.L. 117-58). IIJA provided a total of $16.264 billion in additional emergency appropriations for EERE, of which $1.945 billion is for FY2026 (see Table 1).

EERE also received $17.962 billion in additional funding through P.L. 117-169 (known as the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022, or IRA) in FY2022, expiring at the end of FY2026, FY2027, FY2029, or FY2031, depending on the provision. (Prior year funding; not shown in Table 1.)

Executive Branch Actions

For FY2026, the Trump Administration requested $888 million for EERE, a 74.3% decrease versus FY2025 enacted of $3.460 billion. The FY2025 request also proposed the creation of a new account of $15 million, additional to the EERE money, corresponding to activities managed by the Under Secretary for Infrastructure (designated as "S3" in the DOE organization)—a position DOE created in FY2023. The proposed account is the Office of Manufacturing and Energy Supply Chains (MESC), whose activities have been funded within the EERE account. The total request for FY2026, including the proposed MESC account, was $903 million. Program direction for the EERE and MESC accounts in the FY2026 budget request comprised 20.4% of the total request.

Overall, DOE's stated goal for EERE funding is to "advance energy dominance." The President's budget request states that EERE will support work to repeal energy efficiency standards. The request includes goals for domestic supply chains of critical materials and components, modernization of the electric grid, promoting affordability and consumer choice in home appliances, research focused on key outcomes related to energy affordability, and other purposes.

The President's budget request for FY2026 proposes appropriation bill language to enact rescissions of $2.315 billion of the IIJA-appropriated funds allocated to EERE.

Legislative Actions

The House passed H.R. 4553 (119^th Congress), the Energy and Water Development and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2026, on September 4, 2025. The bill would fund EERE at $1.83 billion, keeping MESC activities within EERE. H.Rept. 119-213 would, per Section 102 of H.R. 4553, allocate monies to the accounts and subaccounts as shown in Table 1. Neither the House bill nor the House report acted on the President's request to rescind monies from IIJA. Section 313 of H.R. 4553 would require that $672.7 million of certain unobligated amounts appropriated in IIJA—Sections 40208, 40314 (not all of which was appropriated to EERE), 40511(a), and 40541—be transferred to nuclear energy programs. The bill did not specify how the transfer was to be apportioned across the IIJA sections. These four sections were among those noted above that are proposed for rescission in the President's budget request.

H.Rept. 119-213 encouraged DOE to address domestic manufacturing capacity of distribution transformers, an electricity grid component, and to continue its focus on the energy-water nexus.

Section 50402 of the FY2025 budget reconciliation measure (P.L. 119-21) makes a rescission of the unobligated balances for State-Based Home Energy Efficiency Contractor Training Grants (IRA §50123, $200 million), but does not specify the amount.