"YES" on the Hudson Amendment to take Department of Energy Spending Down to 2008 Levels
"YES" on the Hudson Amendment to take Department of Energy Spending Down to 2008 Levels
This week, the House will vote on an amendment offered by Representative Richard Hudson (R-N.C.) to the FY16 Energy and Water Appropriations Act (H.R. 2028). The amendment would take spending back to pre-stimulus FY 2008 levels with an across the board cut of 11.2 percent. The cuts would not apply to defense accounts.
As Heritage has explained:
The Department of Energy's budget grew from $15 billion in FY 2000 to $25.7 billion in FY 2011—a staggering 71 percent increase in only one decade. Many government programs included in various Presidents' annual DOE budgets evolved from basic research and development to attempts at commercialization better left to the private sector. Other programs are politically correct pet projects of various Members of Congress that have little business being supported by taxpayers. The private sector is much better at allocating resources and developing energy technologies than government-directed initiatives. Such wasteful use of taxpayer money provides Congress an opportunity to significantly scale back or eliminate a number of government energy programs and return the Department of Energy to its traditional mission of promoting national and economic energy security and focus on areas that meet a critical national objective.
The Hudson Amendment helps return the Department of Energy closer to its traditional mission of promoting national and economic energy security, while reducing budget authority by roughly $1.87 billion.
Heritage Action supports the Hudson Amendment and will include it as a key vote on our legislative scorecard.
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"YES" on the Hudson Amendment to take Department of Energy Spending Down to 2008 Levels