Murray, Kaptur: As Families Pay More & More for Energy, Reports Show Trump Energy Department Withholding Billions and Playing Politics

Washington, D.C. - Today, Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), Vice Chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee and Ranking Member of the Subcommittee on Energy and Water Development, and Congresswoman Marcy Kaptur (OH-09), Ranking Member of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Energy and Water Development, released the following statement on the Trump administration holding back or cutting off billions of dollars Congress provided the Department of Energy to bring new energy online and lower Americans' energy costs. Four recent reports detail how, over the last 18 months, President Trump's policies have raised energy costs for families and delayed and defunded critical energy investments.

"President Trump hasn't just sent gas prices through the roof with his war with Iran; he and his administration have systematically held up and cut off energy investments Congress has made that should be lowering families' energy bills. Congress gave the Department of Energy tens of billions of dollars to build out the power grid and cut the costs that families pay to heat and cool their homes. But the Trump Administration is still holding that money back and letting politics decide which projects survive. This president's corruption is already sending Americans' energy bills higher. The Constitution gives Congress the power of the purse. We will keep pressing until this money reaches the projects and families it was meant for," said Murray and Kaptur.

Congress provided funding through the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, the Inflation Reduction Act, and the annual Energy and Water Development appropriations bills for a variety of cost-cutting energy investments. The funding supports power lines, grid upgrades, home energy savings, and bringing more power online. But starting in January 2025, the Trump Administration froze funds for energy programs and kept them frozen after Kaptur and Murray demanded answers. The Department announced the cancellation of 24 awards worth $3.7 billion in May 2025 and another 321 worth nearly $8 billion on October 1, 2025. In July 2026, the Department's lawyers admitted in court that the October cancellations were based solely on the politics of each recipient's state.

Four reports released recently show the Department of Energy is failing to spend money Congress provided-driving up Americans' costs-and it is letting politics drive its decisions:

1. Recent analysis from Energy Innovation, which includes state-level impacts, found that the Trump administration's energy policy changes since January 2025, including the Department's cancellation of hydrogen hub funding, will cost households an additional $920 billion for energy from 2026 through 2040, or about $6,500 more in energy costs per household.
2. The Department of Energy Alumni Network and Lawyers for Good Government reported that a year after the Department canceled hundreds of awards, 61 percent of terminated awards remain in limbo, 69 percent of the awards the Department said it would keep have received negligible funding in the past six months, and another 1,731 projects worth $3.9 billion have heard nothing from the Department.
3. The Natural Resources Defense Council published internal Department records, obtained through a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit, indicating that DOE's committee reviewing awards for termination was made up entirely of political appointees and Department of Government Efficiency staff. This follows DOE's earlier admission in court that its decision to cancel energy projects "was based solely on the political identity of the grant recipient's state."
4. The EFI Foundation found that 94 percent of the $57.5 billion Congress provided DOE through the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act has still not reached recipients, and $29.3 billion, or 51 percent, has not been legally committed to any project.

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