Pictured is Ohio US. Representative Marcy Kaptur, a Toledo Democrat whose 9th congressional district extends to parts of Cleveland, Ohio, and the longest serving woman in science

CLEVELANDURBANNEWS.COM-Washington, D.C. — U.S. Representative Marcy Kaptur (OH-09), a Toledo Democrat whose 9th congressional district extends to parts of Cleveland and who is chair of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Energy and Water Development,.held a subcommittee hearing on Wednesday on the Trump administration’s fiscal year 2020 budget request for the Department of Energy’s science, energy, and environmental management programs.

The House Appropriations Subcommittee on Energy and Water Development, a standing  subcommittee within the House Appropriations Committee, has jurisdiction over the budget for the United States Department of Energy (DOE) and Water Development

Led by former governor of Texas Rick Perry, a Republican and former presidential candidate, the DOE is a cabinet level department of the U.S. government  whose responsibilities include the nuclear weapons programs, energy costs, scientific research relative to energy costs genomics; the Human Genome Project and other venues.

Kaptur's spokesman told Clevelandurbannews.com and Kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com, Ohio's most read Black digital newspaper and Black blog, that the proposed budget by the president is irresponsible and damning and that it impacts, among other ragas, energy conservation, scientific technology and research, weatherization programs that provide relief to the nation's most vulnerable, including the elderly and the poor.

She said the country is at risk with Trump's proposed budget.

"The president’s budget request harms America’s energy future, our competitiveness, our consumers, and our economy, " said Kaptur at the hearing ."The Trump budget also falls short in meeting our obligations to the communities that have sacrificed, and still bear the brunt of costs borne from winning World War II."

The congresswoman said that DOE addresses the  nation’s most pressing energy, environmental, and nuclear security challenges through transformative science and technology, but  the Trump administration’s budget demands  drastically reduces or eliminates the very programs necessary for the department to pursue its mission.

The budget request is 11 percent below last year’s levels, with most cuts in the non-defense side of the department.

"In fact," the congresswoman said, "non-defense programs relating mostly to the innovation programs are cut by 37 percent while defense programs are increased by four percent."

She said that the budget demands of the Trump administration are "riddled with wrongheaded proposals."

The longest serving woman in congress, Kaptur said that Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) funding is cut by 86 percent.though its research over the last nearly four decades has served to drive down the costs of clean energy technologies that save consumers money and reduce carbon pollution.

"For example, said Kaptur," since 2008, the cost of wind energy has dropped by 75%, electric vehicle batteries by 79%, and LED light bulbs by 94%.

The federal lawmaker has concerns because the slated Trump administration budget for EERE again eliminates the Weatherization Program, which, she says, "has a direct, positive impact on the lives and pocketbooks of Americans, particularly elderly and low-income Americans."

The congresswoman refuses to back down and remains passionate on protecting  America's poor, disabled and elderly citizens on fixed incomes.

"At a time when one in five households have had to forego necessities to pay energy bills, the Weatherization Program saves average citizen, our taxpayers, hundreds of dollars per home annually," Kaptur said.

"In addition to opposing these destructive cuts, I want to be clear that we will not support the use of budget gimmicks, in this case, [or] the use of prior year balances to fund future projectS," she said.

Kaptur said that the energy future of the country depends on DOE’s vital investments to solve the nation's toughest energy challenges.

Clevelandurbannews.com and Kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com, Ohio's most read Black digital newspaper and Black blog with some 5 million views on Google Plus alone.Tel: (216) 659-0473 and Email: editor @clevelandurbannews.com. Kathy Wray Coleman, editor-in-chief, and who trained for 17 years at the Call and Post Newspaper in Cleveland, Ohio. We interviewed former president Barack Obama one-on-one when he was campaigning for president. As to the Obama interview, CLICK HERE TO READ THE ENTIRE ARTICLE AT CLEVELAND URBAN NEWS.COM, OHIO'S LEADER IN BLACK DIGITAL NEWS.