WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, Ranking Member of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) released the following statement regarding the Trump Administration’s 2018 Budget proposal:

“Numbers in a budget are not just numbers. They represent the values that we hold as a country. The Trump budget proposal for the Energy Department falls woefully short of reflecting our values and instead slashes the investments we need to make for our children and grandchildren.

America is in a race to become the world’s clean energy superpower, and Donald Trump wants to wave the white flag. His budget proposes a staggering seventy percent cut to renewables and energy efficiency initiatives. This would devastate an emerging sector of our economy by killing thousands of clean-energy jobs all over the country—all in a misguided effort to hold onto the past at the expense of our future. The Department Of Energy has a long proud history of acting as an incubator for innovation with bipartisan support and that tradition won’t end now.

Given the strong support for these initiatives on both sides of the aisle, the Trump budget proposal is dead on arrival. I look forward to working with my colleagues to continue these important programs."