OPENING REMARKS: Senator Murray Blasts Trump’s Energy Budget as Skyrocketing Energy Costs Squeeze American Families

Murray : "This budget really is a war-bloated disaster. We're talking $1.5 trillion on war, that is an increase of half a trillion dollars. And this budget takes a hatchet to programs that lower families' energy bills, research that keeps us ahead of China, crucial water projects that our communities rely on. And gas prices are sky high and energy bills are ticking up month after month, just so Trump can help defense contractors make a killing. And I will tell you, at home that is not what our families want."

ICYMI : Senator Murray on President Trump's FY27 Budget Request

***WATCH: Senator Murray's opening remarks***

Washington, D.C. - Today-during a Senate Appropriations Energy and Water Development Subcommittee hearing on President Trump's fiscal year 2027 budget request for the Department of Energy-U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), Vice Chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee and Ranking Member of the Subcommittee, underscored in opening remarks how President Trump is proposing to eliminate critical programs that help Americans afford their bills and slash critical investments in cutting edge science and American communities to help pay for his proposed half trillion increase in war funding.

Senator Murray's remarks, as delivered, are below:

[REJECTION OF TRUMP CUTS IN FY26]

"You're right, last year, working together, we were able to write and pass a bipartisan funding bill that actually looked nothing like the budget President Trump requested. I didn't love it, but it was a compromise, we worked well together, and we delivered investments to lower energy costs, and advance American innovation. We rejected some really extreme cuts, and we protected crucial investments that matter immensely to my state like the Hanford cleanup, and Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, and Howard Hanson Dam, and more. And I know Mr. Chairman you delivered for people back home in Louisiana as well.

"That's really how this process works best, we talk to folks back home, we talk to our colleagues, we talk to each other, and we negotiate a bill, the strongest bill we can for America. We did that last year Mr. Chairman, and I'm honored to work with you, and looking forward to doing that again this year. But looking at the president's budget, Mr. Secretary-I have to say, it's pretty clear we have our work cut out for us because we are going to have to start from scratch here.

[TRUMP'S BACKWARD BUDGET PITCH]

"This budget really is a war-bloated disaster. We're talking $1.5 trillion on war, that is an increase of half a trillion dollars. And this budget takes a hatchet to programs that lower families' energy bills, research that keeps us ahead of China, crucial water projects that our communities rely on. And gas prices are sky high and energy bills are ticking up month after month, just so Trump can help defense contractors make a killing. And I will tell you, at home that is not what our families want.

[PROPOSAL TO GUT ENERGY AFFORDABILITY PROGRAMS]

"You know what they are worried about? They're worried about energy costs. But worse than failing on high energy costs-this Administration is actually driving them higher, cancelling energy projects that would bring down those costs, waging Trump's absurd trade wars, and now starting this actual war in Iran. And this budget doubles down on driving costs up.

"The Weatherization Assistance Program, really critical, it helps our families afford energy efficient home improvements. It actually saves families $372 a year. It directly brings down families' costs. But instead of saving families-Trump's budget would save them nothing with this program. He wants to zero it out entirely.

[HELD UP AFFORDABILITY FUNDING]

"Meanwhile, for well over a year now, this administration has been sitting on billions of dollars in funding that Democrats provided for energy rebates. This is funding that should be going directly into families' pockets-to help them cover the cost of energy efficiency upgrades that save some money. The Department should be providing households up to $14,000. And it should be helping families across the country save over $1 billion each year on their energy bills. It should be supporting over 50,000 jobs installing heat pumps, and solar panels, and more. Instead-you are denying families this funding, while they are paying five, six, seven dollars a gallon at the pump.

[PROPOSAL TO SLASH RESEARCH & INNOVATION FUNDING]

"And let's talk about research and innovation, because I have to imagine this budget would make officials in Beijing smile.

"Trump's $17 billion cut to science and energy here all but forfeits the clean energy competition, it torpedoes our research and innovation, and sabotages American manufacturing. Trump wants to cut the Office of Science by 15 percent. He wants to hobble the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory in Washington state. I visit there frequently-and I see firsthand how they are on the leading edge on everything from AI, battery technologies, material science, not to mention nuclear nonproliferation-something else this budget actually takes a hatchet to.

"So for someone who brags all the time about how his uncle was an MIT professor-Trump does not seem to get this. Maybe he got confused between 'cutting edge research' and 'cutting research,' I don't know. But I do know everyone here gets it. And we are not going to give up on America's scientific leadership.

"Trump wants to cut the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy by two-thirds. This budget proposes rescinding over $15 billion in funding that's already approved in the bipartisan infrastructure bill. We're talking about cancelling major investments that will bring more energy online. These are projects that lower costs for our families. These are investments that strengthen our energy independence, they reduce our reliance on foreign oil. Trump's budget tosses them in the trash. But I hope this committee does not do that, and it won't if I have anything to say about it.

"Instead, we should toss this budget in the trash, and start by working on an energy budget that works for all of us.

[PROPOSAL TO SHORTCHANGE WASHINGTON STATE]

"Trump is also trying to shortchange Hanford now. This budget would slash the Hanford cleanup by $400 million. We are at a very crucial moment, when we are preparing to build the High Level Waste Facility, and Trump wants to cut [our] legs out from under us by ripping away hundreds of millions of dollars. And it will not save money! If we skimp on that clean up right now, it will take longer and it will cost more. So I will again, be fighting tooth and nail for Hanford-like I do every year, because we have a moral-and we have a legal-obligation to get this right.

[PROPOSAL TO INCREASE NUCLEAR WEAPONS BUDGET]

"Now, while Trump proposes slashing investments to lower costs, there is one item he wants to boost, and it is an eye-popping amount: our nuclear weapons program. Now Trump has said, 'We have enough nuclear weapons to blow up the world 150 times.' Apparently, that's not enough. Because this budget would increase funding for our nuclear weapons program by over seven billion dollars to build new facilities. And that's on top of a nearly four billion dollar boost from the Republicans' bill a year ago. Because everyone knows that is what families are begging for. Cutting Alzheimer's research and affordable housing, so he can blow up the world 151 times. We've gotta be real. Facilities for a larger nuclear weapons arsenal will not help feed our starving kids. Exploding the budget for defense contractors will not help parents struggling with rent.

"This budget, is a microcosm of the moral bankruptcy that runs through Trump's entire budget: more money for war, more money for war, less money for families. And this backwards budget would only compound the major problems we've seen at the department over the last year.

[DECIMATION OF DOE UNDER TRUMP]

"Because over the past year, DOE has seen massive staff reductions, our National Labs have lost thousands of staff, departmental policies threatened billions in research funding for our universities, until Congress stepped in. And of course, the Department is openly breaking the law, and illegally blocking and cancelling funding. I mentioned how you're blocking funding to help families save money. But we should acknowledge that nine months ago, after GAO affirmed you are impounding funds for school energy improvements, you still haven't moved a single penny. That is funding for our kids and it is funding for our schools.

[BLATANT POLITICAL RETRIBUTION AGAINST BLUE STATES]

"And meanwhile, hugely important energy projects that were actually years in the making, that were creating good jobs, and were saving families real money, have been cancelled for blatantly political reasons. And that includes the Pacific Northwest Hydrogen Hub in my home state in Washington. Your department acknowledged in court-which ruled against you by the way-that when Russ Vought told DOE during the shutdown to cancel projects, you did so considering 'whether the grantee was located in a 'Blue State.''

"That is really outrageous-and impossible to overstate the meltdown there'd be if the shoe were on the other foot, and a Democratic president did that to red states. I hope my colleagues on the other side of the aisle will acknowledge what's happening here and work with us to fix it.

"Now the good news is that while this budget is a mess, it's not exactly new. Trump tried a lot of this last year. So, respectfully, Mr. Secretary, I'm going to work to tear this budget up. I will work with my colleagues to write a budget that is responsible, and I look forward to working with you,Chair Kennedy, to do that."

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