President Trump has tried to cut funding for virtually every federal program that addresses climate change. But Congress has been pushing back, sometimes with surprising bipartisan support.
This year, lawmakers quietly saved funding for the government’s popular Energy Star program, which ranks appliances based on energy conservation and cost savings. Bipartisan majorities also salvaged weather forecasting, fisheries and climate research at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and even some international environmental aid.
Mr. Trump’s new proposed budget is expected to be made public on Friday, and climate advocates said they were bracing for steep new cuts to environmental programs. The White House declined to comment on the budget but noted that Mr. Trump had already eliminated his top targets, like federal support for wind, solar and other renewable energy.
Advocates for climate action said their modest success last time had given them some hope of again retaining popular programs in next year’s budget.
“They didn’t save a whole lot,” Patrick Dunn, director of climate policy at the Sierra Club, an environmental group, said of Congress. But, he said, “In the midst of an affordability crisis, it didn’t make sense to just eliminate programs that directly impact people’s everyday lives.”
Here are some of the major cuts that Congress rejected during Mr. Trump’s first year back in office:
Energy Assistance
The Environmental Protection Agency transferred management of its Energy Star program to the Energy Department in March. Mr. Trump and Lee Zeldin, the E.P.A. administrator, initially tried to scrap the program entirely, but Congress rejected the move.
Best known for its cyan blue labels, Energy Star helps consumers choose energy-efficient dishwashers, refrigerators and other home appliances, providing rebates to encourage purchases. Mr. Zeldin’s announcement last year that he would end the program sparked an intense backlash from business leaders and some Republicans.
When lawmakers dedicated $33 million to the program in January, it marked the first time Congress mandated a specific, dedicated level of funding for Energy Star. Lawmakers even included language ordering the administration not to reduce the funding amount. Supporters called it a clear rebuke to the Trump administration.
“It was a no-brainer to keep it going,” said Todd Sims, a senior director at the National Electrical Manufacturers Association, which represents electrical equipment manufacturers.
Moving the program to the Energy Department raised fresh questions, though, like whether the money Congress gave the E.P.A. for Energy Star would be retained and whether there would be changes to the way the program operates. The E.P.A. referred questions to the Energy Department, which did not respond. The White House Office of Management and Budget did not provide an explanation, either.
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Another program that survived the Trump budget ax: the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program, or LIHEAP, which helps millions of people in the United States pay their heating or cooling bills.
Last spring, the Trump administration laid off the program’s entire staff as part of a broader restructuring of the Health and Human Services Department, the agency responsible for managing and funding LIHEAP. Weeks later, the administration submitted an annual budget request to Congress that called LIHEAP “unnecessary” and included no funding for it.
Representatives Mike Lawler of New York, a Republican, and Josh Gottheimer of New Jersey, a Democrat, introduced a bill in June to “protect” LIHEAP by establishing minimum staffing levels for the program. About $4.05 billion fiscal-year 2026 was eventually included in the appropriations package that became law in January.
The package also included a modest increase in funding for the Weatherization Assistance Program at the Energy Department. That program subsidizes weatherization projects and other energy-efficiency improvements for low- and moderate-income households.
Oceans and Atmosphere
The Trump administration sought last year to eliminate the scientific research division at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, getting rid of research on climate and weather patterns. It also proposed cutting about $1.5 billion of the agency’s roughly $6 billion budget, zeroing out funding for weather and ocean labs, satellite programs and the protection of coastal resources while moving the regulation of fisheries to another agency.
Congress said no to almost all of it.
“NOAA has never been so popular as it was this past year,” said Valerie Cleland, an oceans expert at the Natural Resources Defense Council, an environmental group.
The spending bill enacted in January funded NOAA at about $6.1 billion, about as much as it received in 2025. Lawmakers rejected Mr. Trump’s $300 million in proposed cuts to the National Marine Fisheries Service and, instead of zeroing out climate research, provided $224 million for the agency.
Still, the administration did remove thousands of federal employees who worked on climate change, including many at NOAA. Officials also fired everyone who worked on the federal government’s flagship climate change assessment and took current reports offline. And the administration is working to dismantle the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Colorado, one of the world’s leading Earth science research institutions.
Small Levels of Global Climate Finance
Officials gutted the U.S. Agency for International Development, which funded the majority of America’s humanitarian and development assistance worldwide, including programs to address the impacts of climate change.
They also proposed billions in budget cuts to other agencies that provide health and development assistance, and left the Green Climate Fund, the world’s biggest effort to help vulnerable countries develop renewable energy and prepare for the consequences of a warming planet.
Congress still allocated $50 billion for diplomacy and foreign aid. While that was $9.3 billion less than before, it was also 60 percent more than the Trump administration wanted. And that included some climate finance: Congress gave $150 million to the Global Environment Facility, a multilateral fund, slightly more than the previous year.
While the fund does help countries cope with climate change, it tends to focus on broader environmental issues, like land degradation, combating the illegal wildlife trade and freshwater ecosystem management. That has won it more Republican support over the years.
Lisa Friedman is a Times reporter who writes about how governments are addressing climate change and the effects of those policies on communities.
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