Dear Representatives,

On behalf of more than two million Americans for Prosperity activists in all 50 states, I urge you to support Rep. Tom McClintock’s amendment to the Energy & Water appropriations bill (H.R. 5325). This amendment would strike funding for several Department of Energy R&D programs, saving taxpayers money and leaving risky tech investment to the private sector where it belongs.

I urge you to vote YES on the McClintock amendment to cut EERE, fossil fuel, and nuclear energy R&D funding (or a group of amendments that would have the same effect). Americans for Prosperity will include this vote in our congressional ratings.

Government spending has skyrocketed in recent years, with the federal budget growing by a whopping 53% since 2000—after accounting for inflation. One of the reasons is that Washington continues to spend taxpayer dollars on programs that are simply not appropriate for a federal government that is properly limited in size and scope.

Department of Energy (DOE) funding for energy tech research and development (R&D) is a perfect example. To be sure, the private sector has few financial incentives to carry out general, non-marketable scientific research—thus the need for the DOE’s Office of Science. But Washington is also spending billions of taxpayer dollars on marketable technological research that private companies later use to bank big profits in the energy sector. Here energy companies should fund their own product R&D, just like companies in almost every other industry.

Rep. McClintock’s amendment would zero out funding for Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), fossil energy, and nuclear energy R&D, saving taxpayers well over $2 billion annually. If his amendment is broken into three parts—a separate vote on cutting EERE, fossil fuels, and nuclear energy R&D funding—Members must vote yes on all three to receive credit on AFP’s congressional scorecard. All three sets of government-funded R&D are an inappropriate and wasteful use of taxpayer dollars, and if we want true competition in America’s energy markets, no one industry should be favored with government handouts.

I urge you to vote YES on the McClintock amendment to cut EERE, fossil fuel, and nuclear energy R&D funding (or a group of amendments that would have the same effect). Americans for Prosperity will include this vote in our congressional ratings.

Sincerely,

Adam A. Berkland
Federal Affairs Manager
Americans for Prosperity

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