Recently, 86 CEBN members participated in our fiscal year 2018 appropriations sign-on letter to protect funding for clean energy programs (see House and Senate versions). As an update, congressional leaders have finalized a deal on the 2018 funding bill that the President signed into law on March 23. The package rejects the deep funding cuts proposed in the Administration’s FY 2018 budget request, and instead provides:

• An increase of nearly $1.5 billion in Department of Energy clean energy programs compared to the prior fiscal year
• Stable funding for the Environmental Protection Agency
• Increased funding for DOE’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (+14%), Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (+16%), Office of Science (+16%), and Office of Fossil Energy (+10%)
• Continued support for DOE’s CHP Technical Assistance Partnership program

Now, Congress will turn its attention to FY2019 and to the deep cuts to energy programs proposed again in the Administration’s budget request. We hope you consider continuing today’s momentum by signing onto our new letter to congressional leaders calling for robust clean energy funding in FY2019, along with other program-specific letters being circulated by some of our partner organizations:

• CEBN sign-on letter supporting a broad range of clean energy programs 
• Combined Heat and Power Partnership Letter
• Energy Efficiency Programs Letter
• ARPA-E Letter

Follow @l_abramson on Twitter to hear more from Lynn. Follow the CEBN on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn to stay connected.

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The Clean Energy Business Network (CEBN) works to advance the clean energy economy through policy, public education, and business support for small- and medium-size energy companies. Started in 2009 by The Pew Charitable Trusts, the CEBN is now a small business division of the Business Council for Sustainable Energy. The CEBN represents 3,000+ business leaders across all 50 U.S. states working with a broad range of clean energy and transportation technologies.