Energy budget holds major cuts

President Obama's proposed 2012 budget for the Energy Department slashes spending for hydrogen and fossil fuel research programs by almost 50 percent and shutters parts of two national labs, according to a fact sheet on Energy's budget obtained by National Journal.

"Fiscal responsibility demands shared sacrifice -- it means cutting programs we would not cut in better fiscal times," Energy Secretary Steven Chu said in an e-mail sent out today to all department staff, labs and sites.

As Obama called for in his State of the Union address, Energy's budget eliminates $3.6 billion worth of oil and gas subsidies. It also repeals coal subsidies, which the president did not mention in his speech last month. Obama has done this in his past two budget proposals. It has never passed Congress and isn't expected to this time given the GOP-controlled House and a more conservative Senate than the one in the last Congress.

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