The Real Trump Budget Question: What Role Should Government Play in Commercializing Cleantech?

And is the Republican Party slowly starting to go green?

Julia Pyper May 25, 2017

Julia Pyper

Senior Editor
Greentech Media

Julia Pyper is a Senior Editor at Greentech Media covering the energy transition. She is also the host and producer of the Political Climate podcast. She previously reported for E&E Publishing, and has covered clean energy and climate change issues across the U.S. and abroad, including in India, Haiti, Israel and the Maldives. She holds degrees from McGill and Columbia Universities. Find her on Twitter @JMPyper.

President Trump released his 2018 budget request this week that gutted dozens of clean energy and environment programs. Lawmakers from both political parties have already condemned the plan, which means the budget debate is only just getting started.

In our latest GTM live video, Democrat and Republican energy policy experts Brandon Hurlbut and Shane Skelton delve into how Trump's budget is likely to play out in Congress, and how it could actually give Democrats more leverage. Plus, we debate a core issue here: What role should the government play in supporting clean energy technologies?

We also look at how the Republican Party is slowly starting to embrace action on climate change, and we cap off the show with our bets on whether or not the U.S. stays in the Paris climate agreement.

Finally, this show now has a name! The Green Room.

Often some of the most candid conversations take place in TV green rooms, before the cameras start rolling. We wanted to bring that kind of honest, straightforward talk to our bipartisan policy discussions. We also picked The Green Room because, well, we talk about green energy.

Pop in some headphones, here's this week's episode: