Discretionary Spending
Function 270 - Energy
Reduce Department of Energy Funding for Energy Technology Development
CBO periodically issues a compendium of policy options (called Options for Reducing the Deficit) covering a broad range of issues, as well as separate reports that include options for changing federal tax and spending policies in particular areas. This option appears in one of those publications. The options are derived from many sources and reflect a range of possibilities. For each option, CBO presents an estimate of its effects on the budget but makes no recommendations. Inclusion or exclusion of any particular option does not imply an endorsement or rejection by CBO.
| Billions of dollars | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2015-2019 | 2015-2024 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Reduce Funding for Fossil Energy Research, Development, and Demonstration | |||||||||||||
| Change in Spending | |||||||||||||
| Budget authority | 0 | -0.1 | -0.1 | -0.2 | -0.2 | -0.2 | -0.2 | -0.2 | -0.2 | -0.2 | -0.5 | -1.5 | |
| Outlays | 0 | * | * | -0.1 | -0.1 | -0.2 | -0.2 | -0.2 | -0.2 | -0.2 | -0.3 | -1.1 | |
| Reduce Funding for Nuclear Energy Research, Development, and Demonstration | |||||||||||||
| Change in Spending | |||||||||||||
| Budget authority | 0 | -0.1 | -0.3 | -0.5 | -0.5 | -0.5 | -0.5 | -0.5 | -0.5 | -0.5 | -1.4 | -3.8 | |
| Outlays | 0 | -0.1 | -0.2 | -0.3 | -0.4 | -0.5 | -0.5 | -0.5 | -0.5 | -0.5 | -1.1 | -3.5 | |
| Reduce Funding for Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Research, Development, and Demonstration | |||||||||||||
| Change in Spending | |||||||||||||
| Budget authority | 0 | -0.3 | -0.6 | -0.9 | -0.9 | -0.9 | -0.9 | -1.0 | -1.0 | -1.0 | -2.7 | -7.5 | |
| Outlays | 0 | -0.1 | -0.2 | -0.4 | -0.6 | -0.7 | -0.8 | -0.9 | -0.9 | -1.0 | -1.4 | -5.6 | |
| Total | |||||||||||||
| Change in Spending | |||||||||||||
| Budget authority | 0 | -0.5 | -1.0 | -1.5 | -1.6 | -1.6 | -1.6 | -1.7 | -1.7 | -1.7 | -4.5 | -12.8 | |
| Outlays | 0 | -0.2 | -0.5 | -0.9 | -1.1 | -1.3 | -1.4 | -1.5 | -1.6 | -1.7 | -2.7 | -10.2 | |
Notes: This option would take effect in October 2015. Estimates are relative to CBO’s August 2014 baseline projections.
* = between -$50 million and zero.
Various programs of the Department of Energy support applied research and development and commercial demonstration of new technologies in the areas of fossil fuels, nuclear power, and energy efficiency and renewable energy. This option would reduce spending for those activities to 25 percent of their fiscal year 2014 amounts stepwise over three years. (Basic research in those areas would be exempt from those reductions.)