Congressional appropriators and Trump administration officials, including Energy Secretary Chris Wright, could butt heads this week as the White House’s budget proposal comes under new scrutiny.
Several panels will host the leaders of the Department of Energy, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the Department of Agriculture and other agencies for some of the first fiscal 2026 spending hearings — just days after the administration unveiled its initial budget plan.
The so-called skinny budget proposes sweeping cuts to federal energy and environment initiatives and other programs that enjoy significant bipartisan support. Appropriators on both sides of the aisle have already signaled that they want answers about why programs they funded are now on the chopping block.
“The executive branch can’t just think we can automatically — or will automatically — pass whatever they produce when their process is over,” House Appropriations Chair Tom Cole (R-Okla.) told reporters last week.
“I need [more information] to be able to craft something that politically can get through the committee and hopefully across the floor,” he said. “So the more information I have, the more they’ll be satisfied with the product.”
The hearings will be administration officials’ first opportunity to publicly defend the proposed reductions before Congress. Lawmakers were expecting the budget plan to lay out steep cuts because of the efforts of the so-called Department of Government Efficiency, but some appear to have been alarmed by the breadth of the proposal and indicated that they would push back.
Congressional appropriators and the White House have disagreements on spending priorities every year, but even high-ranking lawmakers loyal to Trump criticized the White House’s plan Friday. Armed Services Committee chairs were particularly disappointed.
Cole referred to the proposed budget as a “clear starting point” for appropriators. Senate Appropriations Chair Susan Collins (R-Maine) said it is “simply one step in the annual budget process.”
Collins noted that it arrived late and said it was missing “key details.” She said she has “serious objections” about the lower-than-expected defense top line and the proposed elimination of the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program, biomedical research funding and other personal priorities.
“Ultimately, it is Congress that holds the power of the purse,” she said in a statement. “The Appropriations Committee has an aggressive hearing schedule to learn more about the President’s proposal and assess funding needs for the coming year.”
Energy, disaster, farm cuts
The House Energy and Water Development Appropriations Subcommittee’s hearing with Wright on Wednesday will likely see Republicans praise proposed cuts to DOE programs focused on energy efficiency, renewable energy, climate research and electric vehicles.
Still, Wright will have to answer for the administration’s calls to gut bipartisan priorities such as carbon management, nuclear energy and environmental cleanups.
Rep. Chuck Fleischmann (R-Tenn.), the chair of the Energy-Water Subcommittee, said in a brief interview last week that he had already spoken with Wright about programs that are “near and dear to my heart,” including DOE’s environmental management initiative, which the budget plan proposes to cut by $389 million.
“It’s so important, not only in Oak Ridge [National Laboratory], but all across the United States,” Fleischmann said.
“There’s going to be a lot of commonalities and common ground,” he said about the budget plan before seeing it, “but there’s going to be some areas that probably will be funded at a level less than I would like. We will deal with it and get a bill done.”
Asked if he feels that the proposed cuts would undermine the appropriations that his own subcommittee and others approved last year, Fleischmann demurred and suggested appropriators are going to have to be flexible and continue advocating for their preferred programs as they have always done.
“Not to say undermining; we’re just going to have to deal with it,” he said. “It’s the environment in which we find ourselves, and again, it’s playing with the allocations that are given to us and making sure that we have our priorities.”
Appropriators in both chambers could grill Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins on the billions of dollars in proposed cuts to USDA programs dedicated to rural development, natural resources conservation, watershed operations, agricultural research and forest management, among others.
Cameron Hamilton, the acting administrator of FEMA, will face questions from the House Homeland Security Appropriations Subcommittee on Wednesday about the $646 million reduction the White House is requesting for his agency’s non-disaster grants.
Republican lawmakers say the hearings will be an opportunity to jump-start the fiscal 2026 spending negotiations and are looking forward to beginning the process of working with the administration to achieve spending cuts and making the government more “efficient.”
“My kind of continuing theme is: Things are changing and things have to change,” said Senate Environment and Public Works Chair Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.), a senior appropriator.
“So instead of resisting change, let’s figure out a way to make the changes, make everything work better for the American people,” she said. “I guess suggestions are welcome.”
This week’s lineup
Schedule: The House Appropriations Financial Services-General Government Subcommittee hearing is Tuesday, May 6, at 10 a.m. in 2359 Rayburn and via webcast.
Witness: Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent.
Schedule: The House Appropriations Homeland Security Subcommittee hearing is Tuesday, May 6, at 10 a.m. in 2358-C Rayburn and via webcast.
Witness: Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem.
Schedule: The Senate Appropriations Agriculture Subcommittee hearing is Tuesday, May 6, at 10:30 a.m. in 124 Dirksen and via webcast.
Witness: Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins.
Schedule: The House Appropriations Energy-Water Subcommittee hearing is Wednesday, May 7, at 10 a.m. in 2359 Rayburn and via webcast.
Witness: Energy Secretary Chris Wright.
Schedule: The House Appropriations Agriculture Subcommittee hearing is Wednesday, May 7, at 10 a.m. in 2362-A Rayburn and via webcast.
Witness: Rollins.
Schedule: The House Budget committee hearing is Wednesday, May 7, at 10 a.m. in 210 Cannon and via webcast.
Witnesses:
- Joshua Rauh, senior fellow, Hoover Institution.
- Paul Winfree, CEO, Economic Policy Innovation Center.
- Don Schneider, deputy head of U.S. policy, Piper Sandler.
Schedule: The House Appropriations Homeland Security Subcommittee hearing on FEMA is Wednesday, May 7, at 2 p.m. in 2008 Rayburn and via webcast.
Witness: FEMA acting Administrator Cameron Hamilton.
Schedule: The House Appropriations Homeland Security Subcommittee hearing on cybersecurity is Thursday, May 8, at 9 a.m. in 2008 Rayburn and via webcast.
Witness: Bridget Bean, acting director, Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency.
Schedule: The Senate Appropriations Homeland Security Subcommittee hearing is Thursday, May 8, at 10 a.m. in 124 Dirksen and via webcast.
Witness: Noem.
