Kaptur turns to GAO to stop Trump's energy spending changes
Kaptur turns to GAO to stop Trump’s energy spending changes
$277 million cut to solar energy funding could hit First Solar employees
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USA TODAY
TOLEDO — Congresswoman Marcy Kaptur, D-Toledo, and Sen. Patty Murray, D-WA, have asked the Government Accountability Office to issue a legal decision on the Trump administration’s redirection of funding for the Department of Energy as a violation of Congressional appropriation authority.
Kaptur is the ranking member of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Energy and Water Development and Murray is vice chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee and ranking member of the Subcommittee on Energy and Water Development. They believe the Trump administration violated key appropriations laws when it shifted hundreds of millions of dollars meant for research and development of clean energy sources in the full-year continuing resolution to energy sources it favors.
“We would like GAO to address whether DOE’s use of funds in several accounts complies with the Purpose Statute and the Antideficiency Act,” Kaptur and Murray wrote. “We are concerned that DOE’s actions may not comply with either statute.”
Kaptur’s office argued the redirection of those funds without Congressional approval is a violation of the separation of powers.
The Purpose Statute dictates that appropriations only be used for the purposes for which the appropriations were provided unless otherwise provided for by law. The Antideficiency Act prohibits federal agencies from spending funds in advance of or in excess of an appropriation made by Congress.
In fiscal year 2024, Congress provided $137 million for the Department of Energy to support wind energy initiatives and $318 million to support solar energy, Kaptur and Murray noted. The fiscal year 2025 full-year continuing resolution passed by Congress and signed into law by President Trump continued those fiscal year 2024 funding levels.
But in a plan made public earlier this month, the Trump administration revealed it is steering hundreds of millions of dollars designated by Congress to support wind and solar energy to other industries.
Kaptur’s office added that a large portion of the dollars that Trump redirected will be taken from wind and solar energy companies that have ties to Ottawa and Sandusky Counties.
“In shifting these funds, President Trump is not only defying the law— he is raising working families’ energy bills and undermining America’s energy independence,” Kaptur and Murray wrote. “Shortchanging these energy sources of the future hands an advantage to our global rivals while jacking up Americans’ energy costs. This decision is hurting our national labs, starving our universities of resources to conduct cutting-edge research, and undercutting businesses, local governments, and communities across the country.”
The change by the Trump administration would cut funds for wind energy projects by 78% and solar projects by 87%.
First Solar is one of the largest solar panel manufacturers in the United States, with an estimated 65% of the business. Their four solar panel manufacturing plants in Wood County also employ workers in Sandusky and Ottawa Counties.
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