WASHINGTON, D.C. — The White House’s proposed 2026 federal budget lays out the administration’s new energy priorities—by cutting Department of Energy’s budget by $19.3 billion.

The cuts would largely come from renewable energy subsidies allocated by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and Inflation Reduction Act, both passed under former President Joe Biden.

“This level of government subsidies is irresponsible and unsustainable focus on misguided priorities and was often done to the detriment of free markets and private enterprise,” said House Energy and Commerce Energy Subcommittee Chair Bob Latta, R-Ohio, at an Energy Department appropriations hearing on June 10. “In the fiscal year 2026, budget reflects these priorities and will refocus the Department of Energy on its core mission.”

With Republicans now in control of the House, Senate and White House, that mission is moving away from the Biden administration’s focus on combatting climate change, energy policy analysts said. The proposed budget signals a shift toward building up base energy, regardless of the energy source.

“It was full speed ahead to develop new technologies and to deploy existing clean technologies, and particularly on the manufacturing side,” said Noah Kaufman, who served as senior economist on Biden’s Council of Economic Advisers and is currently a senior research scholar at Columbia University’s Center on Global Energy Policy. “My sense from this administration is that climate is not a factor in its energy policy decisions, so it kind of makes sense that they don't see the value in paying for technology to mitigate those harms.”

Accordingly, solar and wind energy programs are particularly hard hit in the proposed budget. The proposal instead emphasizes utilizing the nation’s coal, natural gas and petroleum resources, as well as expanding nuclear energy.

At the Tuesday hearing, Energy Secretary Chris Wright repeated his belief that the transition to cleaner energy will happen, but on a slower timeline.

“The way to cut emissions, as I said then, and as I say now, is to move to new energy technologies… But if you make electricity expensive, you just impoverish people and industry just leaves that state," he said. "It's not part of fighting climate change.”

Democrats on the committee opposed the cuts to clean energy grants, arguing they amount to the government favoring fossil fuels over renewable energy.

Republicans’ shift in priorities is already affecting new energy projects. The Energy Department recently canceled 24 clean energy grants, including a total of $100 million awarded to two businesses in Ohio.