Popular Energy Star Program on The Budget Chopping Block

"A preliminary budget proposal from the White House would eliminate federal leadership of Energy Star," reports Emily Holden, "a popular voluntary program for companies to seek labels for energy-efficient consumer products and appliances."

"A spending blueprint would slash Energy Star and related programs, leaving $5 million 'for the closeout or transfer of all the climate protection voluntary partnership programs,' noting that achieving that might require changes to authorizing legislation from Congress," adds Holden.

The process of the Trump Administration and Congress passing drafts of the budget back and forth, and finally approving the budget, leaves some wiggle room for supporters of the Energy Star program. In a separate article, Chelsea Harvey shares the case made by Kateri Callahan, president of the Alliance to Save Energy, and Lowell Ungar, senior policy adviser with the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy. Both argue that the Energy Star program is good for consumers and for business—as such it should have a case to be made with the Trump Administration for restoring its funding in the next federal budget.