Secretary of Energy Chris Wright has told Congress that he does not support the massive science cuts in his own budget proposal.
The Department of Energy’s proposed budget for the coming year slashes funding for the country’s 17 national labs and for its cutting-edge energy research program — more than halving the budget for the latter.
Under the budget proposal, the DOE’s Office of Science, which funds the large, complex technical facilities used to research the world’s most difficult energy questions, would lose more than $1 billion from its $8 billion budget.
And Wright seems to have a problem with that, despite the fact that the budget proposal is from his own administration.
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“I’m actually very open to expanding the lab budget back a little bit from where the current proposal is. I’ve been voicing that,” he said in response to a question from Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski during a budget hearing Wednesday.
“AI is moving very fast right now, quantum computing is about to arrive, and fusion energy, a thing I’ve worked on in my youth, is going to come to pass. And this is a time, I think, to lean in as much as we can on these large scientific efforts. And so I am keen actually to grow the budget for our national labs in those key areas,” he said.
Wright has said the same since his confirmation hearings, where he spoke at length about his passion for the labs and pledged to visit them all in 2025. He has already traveled to half of them since taking his position, and he spoke about his commitment to preserving them during those visits.
He seemed to struggle slightly for an answer when California Sen. Alex Padilla asked: “How do you expect the United States to lead the world when your budget proposal seeks to decimate our research and development capabilities?”
“It does hurt me to cut spending in science,” Wright said.
“Then don’t do it!” interrupted Padilla.
“I share that passion with you,” Wright said.
A spokesperson for the Department of Energy told NOTUS: “As he mentioned several times in the hearing, Secretary Wright strongly supports the President’s FY2026 budget request, which eliminates funding for politicized ‘science’ and prioritized research in critical energy technologies. His comments regarding opening funding for National Labs referred to ongoing efforts to support AI development within the One Big Beautiful Bill and through public-private partnerships.”
The Office of Management and Budget did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Wright’s testimony indicates some areas of division between OMB head Russell Vought and other agency heads.
Wright defended the rest of the department’s budget cuts throughout the hearing, responding to challenges from Democrats about slashing specific programs by arguing that the federal government is wasting taxpayer dollars subsidizing technologies like solar and wind that don’t need government support.
When Maine Sen. Angus King asked Wright specifically about the more than 50% proposed budget cut to ARPA-E, the agency that takes high-risk bets on new advanced technologies, Wright ultimately defended the proposal.
“I share an interest in basic science, the national labs, nuclear physics, there’s a lot of stuff. If the government doesn’t do it, no one will do it,” Wright said.
“There’s discussions about ARPA-E, what the right thing to do. I know in the previous Trump administration, it was zeroed out entirely. Rest assured, we want to keep ARPA-E, we will keep ARPA-E, and it will be at a reasonable level,” he added. “But it, you know, it had grown fast and wild, and it backed a number of great projects, maybe a lot of more politically motivated, not technically motivated projects,” he said.
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Anna Kramer is a reporter at NOTUS.
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