Catherine Cortez Masto Presses Energy Dept. Nominees On Trump’s Push To Dismantle Research Programs

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During Thursday's Senate Energy Committee hearing, Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV) questioned nominees about Trump's push to dismantle energy research programs.

Transcript

00:00Thank you. Congratulations and welcome to all of your family members who are here

00:06as well. I appreciate your willingness to serve. Let me start with Mr. Daufermeyer.

00:14I don't really have questions for you but I'll do it on the record, but I have to

00:17say I am just, I appreciate your candor and your respect for the law and the

00:21rule of law and what it means. That's very rare in this day with individuals

00:27coming before. So I thank you. I thank you for your comments on that. Let me start

00:32with Ms. Jereza as well as Mr. Haustudeit. The bipartisan infrastructure law is

00:42helping Nevada become a national leader for battery manufacturing and recycling.

00:47We also hold the capacity to support the entire supply chain in my home state. For

00:53example, Nevada has enough lithium to supply the world for 85 years. I know

00:59you're aware of that. However, it is unfortunate that President Trump's fiscal

01:05year 2026 budget calls for the cancellation of over 15 billion dollars from the

01:10bipartisan infrastructure law. And he's specifically in that fiscal year budget

01:16targets battery manufacturers and calls these funds handouts. Now as lithium ion

01:23batteries and related technologies continue to be used by our military and

01:29clean energy applications, I believe we should be making them here to cut our

01:34reliance on communist China and not dismantle and enacted DOE programs that

01:42strengthen our global competitive, quite honestly. So if confirmed, let me ask you

01:49what your positions would be on the dismantling of those programs that support

01:56the research into and the support for battery manufacturing. And Ms. Jereza, let me start

02:02with you. Sure. Thank you for the question Senator. It is in this race very

02:07important that we continue to have the innovation that is so necessary to deploy the

02:14new technologies that we need. And just for clarification, the Office of

02:19Electricity has energy storage research in its budget and it is not IIJ related. And so I

02:27expect that, if confirmed, that that research will continue. And what's really

02:33interesting, even though I haven't been directly involved in that research, there's a

02:39cluster effort at the Pacific Northwest National Lab where it looks at taking,

02:46working with the Office of Science and basically going from atoms to systems to

02:51make sure that concept of commercialization is happening. And so I'm

02:55excited to see when we're competing with China that we come up with non-lithium

02:58solutions. And America is poised to be able to take advantage of that. And if

03:04confirmed, I look forward to working with you and with the others around me to

03:09ensure that we do that. Thank you. Mr. House-DeViet. Senator, thank you for the

03:13question. Your state of Nevada is blessed with great resource, both hard rock, clay

03:18and brine. And it's been incredible to watch the rapid technological development

03:24of new techniques, including direct lithium extraction. I'm not yet in the office, so I

03:29don't know exactly what's being dismantled, what's being proposed, but I'm fully

03:32aligned that we need to take out of the hands of Communist China, 90 plus percent

03:37of the manufacturing of battery technology, and onshore, bring

03:40manufacturing back to the U.S. We have the resource, we have the talent.

03:45I agree, and let me just say, and I appreciate some of your written testimony

03:50earlier, and even your comments about the importance of lithium extraction and

03:57mining and its role in the future of technology, and that this country should

04:04be leading, believing in public-private partnership. Why would we be doing that

04:09extraction if we're not bringing the manufacturing back here that utilizes

04:14that technology, particularly around battery and battery storage as well? So I

04:18appreciate those comments. Let me jump back to something that's come to my

04:24attention, and Ms. Teresa, if you would, if you can comment on this. In 2022, Congress

04:30appropriated $1 billion to the Department of Energy for resilient energy

04:35infrastructure in Puerto Rico, and this past December, the Department announced

04:41$365 million in awards for energy supply projects at community health care

04:47centers. In March, the Department wrote a letter specifying requirements to advance

04:52these projects, but their future now appears to be at risk. So my question to

04:58you is, can I count on you to implement these projects that will provide life

05:02sustaining electricity to medically vulnerable Puerto Rican Americans?

05:07Thank you, Senator, for the question. The Puerto Rico efforts are led by the grid

05:13deployment office, and so I think that they're the ones who are leading the

05:18efforts in the review efforts as well. And if confirmed, what I will do is I will

05:24assess those projects and look at how does this impact not just those that are in need,

05:33but also the entire grid. Secretary Wright and President Trump have made it clear that we need to

05:38look at what we can do to improve or the security resilience of the grid.

05:43Let me just ask you this, because this was appropriated by Congress. This goes into back to the rule of law.

05:48This is appropriate Congress for a certain, for a specific reason. So how does the

05:54administration have the authority now to redirect those funds when that really

05:59wasn't within their jurisdiction? That is my concern. And I'm hoping that you are going to be,

06:04when you get in this position, following the rule of law, and respecting the role of Congress,

06:09and our appropriation authority, and where we redirect these funds.

06:14Senator, I very much appreciate the rule of law, and if confirmed, I will comply with the law,

06:21and we will work. I look forward to looking into this to assess the situation.

06:28Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

06:30Senator King.

06:32Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

06:34Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

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Transcript

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