Trump Budget Backs Nuclear, Coal; Cuts Funding for Renewables
The Trump administration’s fiscal year 2019 budget request released February 12 asks for more money to support fossil fuel-based power systems, but seeks funding below current levels for other energy initiatives, including renewable energy and energy efficiency.
The energy funding is part of a $ 4.4 trillion budget that features large increases in military spending, along with deep cuts to several domestic programs and entitlements, including Medicare, Medicaid, food stamps, and Social Security disability payments. Analysts immediately said it has little chance of being enacted by Congress as written, in part because of fears of what the proposal would add to the federal deficit over the next decade. A New York Times analysis said the proposed budget would add $ 984 billion to the federal deficit next year, and add about $ 7 trillion to the federal deficit over the next 10 years.
The proposal, Trump’s second since taking office in January 2017, is similar in many ways to his administration’s proposed 2018 fiscal year budget, which was rejected by Congress.…