Energy and water bill slashed

 

The bill is the fifth of the 12 annual spending bills. | Jay Westcott/POLITICO

House Republicans outlined a pared-back energy and water budget Monday that would cut as much as $873 million from renewable energy programs — on top of what was cut already in the March sequester.

The cumulative impact is a nearly 50 percent reduction from what Congress had approved only months ago, and the numbers dramatize the steady beating that President Barack Obama is taking in terms of funding for his domestic initiatives.

The $30.4 billion bill is the fifth of the 12 annual spending bills to begin moving through the House Appropriations Committee, and at each step, the process is expected to get bleaker for the president.

Last week, the panel was forced to make cuts from food aid and nutrition programs to meet its targets for the Agriculture Department budget. The bill now seeks to protect the Energy Department’s core science programs and defense-related spending for nuclear weapons. But that only leaves renewable energy programs that more vulnerable.

The budget problem is exacerbated by the House GOP’s decision to shift as much as $28 billion to Pentagon spending — a break with the 2014 targets set in the Budget Control Act in 2011. And the White House has warned that Obama will use his veto to block enactment of all appropriations bills until there is some resolution of the larger budget framework.

This sets up a potential shutdown fight after Labor Day when Congress will have to approve a stopgap continuing resolution to keep the government funded. No decisions have been made yet by the White House, but the dramatic numbers in the energy and water bill illustrate how the president could feel pushed to make a stand if he is to save his domestic agenda.

 

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