Leaders at the Department of Energy’s national labs told lawmakers Wednesday that tens of millions of dollars crucial to research and development has been put on hold, and they weren’t sure when — or if — they’d ever get it.
The hearing of the House Science, Space and Technology Subcommittee on Energy comes as the Trump administration has frozen spending across the government, prompting angst within agencies.
The Republican chair of the subcommittee offered some pushback on the freeze, saying he hoped Congress and the Trump administration would “fully fund” basic science at research labs. Most other GOP lawmakers, however, seemed fine with the spending freeze.
Paul Kearns, director of DOE’s Argonne National Laboratory, said Trump’s executive order paused spending for a variety of federal agency functions, but particularly on climate and renewable energy programs.
