John Kennedy Is Absolutely Stunned By Energy Secretary's Claims About Last-Minute Biden-Era Loans

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At Wednesday's Senate Appropriations Committee hearing, Sen. John Kennedy (R-LA) questioned Energy Sec. Chris Wright.

Transcript

00:00Mr. Chairman, I look forward to you. We've got a lot of work ahead of us.

00:03Thank you, Senator. Mr. Secretary, I want to go back to some of your earlier testimony and be

00:10sure I heard it correctly. The 76-day period you're talking about, that's the period between

00:19the time that President Trump was elected and President Biden left office. Is that right?

00:26That is correct. And during that short period of time, 76 days,

00:34how much taxpayer money went out the door of the Department of Energy?

00:38From the loan program office in loans and commitments, $93 billion.

00:46Well over twice as much as in the previous 15 years.

00:50So how do you vet and do due diligence on a loan in 76 days?

01:03One loan, much less $93 billion. How do you do it?

01:12I think it's probably pretty clear it wasn't done in many cases. As I mentioned, I'm told I'm

01:21holding back clearly in place stuff. There is lots of funds that have gone out the door and

01:28commitments that were made from businesses that provided no business plan, no numbers about their

01:34own financial solvency or how this project. So you're telling me that the Department of Energy

01:39in the 76-day period, before their boss was going to leave office,

01:47gave our loan money to entities that had no business plan?

01:54Correct.

01:55No financials?

01:59Correct. A number of those were before the 76-day period as well. I've come in with great

02:07concern about how this institution, this great American institution has been run and how American

02:12taxpayer money has been handled. I'm sorry everyone's upset that we're taking some time to do it,

02:19but what we've seen and what the record shows is just irresponsible.

02:22I'm not upset. Could it be that a lot of people say you haven't returned your calls?

02:26Could it be that you and your colleagues have returned the calls, but the people calling just

02:32didn't like the answer? Could that be a possibility?

02:38I'm not aware of that. I give my cell phone number to any senator that wants it, and I return my calls.

02:45I mean, has your department gone dark? Somebody said your department's gone dark. Is it dark over

02:53there?

02:54It doesn't look dark behind me.

02:57I don't see any of you sitting on your hands. Somebody made that charge. I see everybody's hands.

03:04Let me ask you something else, Mr. Secretary.

03:06Does anybody ever come to the Department of Energy to get some of this free money and lie to you?

03:19I have not experienced that, but I think it's a reasonable assumption that that has happened.

03:27Does anybody ever come to you, or is it conceivable that some of these folks that heard about this free money

03:35came to you with a half-baked idea?

03:40I think it's very conceivable. In fact, I've seen such plans that were half-baked would be charitable.

03:47You've seen plans that didn't have a business plan, right?

03:50Correct. A promise to develop one, to find a location.

03:54Just give me the money, and I'll develop the plan later.

03:57Correct.

03:59And now, you're going back through, not money that's already been contracted,

04:07but you're going back through and checking each one of these loans and these grants

04:12to make sure there was no stealing, aren't you?

04:16We are. We are.

04:18And you make sure there was no incompetence, aren't you? Is that correct?

04:22We're looking at that, and yeah, my blood pressure is rising right now just thinking about what we have seen

04:29and what did happen at the department.

04:30And you're going to tell some of these boondoggles no, aren't you?

04:33That's correct.

04:34And they're going to be upset, aren't they?

04:36That's correct.

04:37And they ought to be upset, shouldn't they?

04:41I don't think they should be upset. I think they should be ashamed.

04:44I am, it's rare that I'm speechless, but I want to be sure I understood the people running

04:59the Department of Energy for President Biden's administration shoveled $93 billion, not million,

05:10$93 billion out the door in 76 days, and it just happened to be the time between when President Trump

05:21was elected and President Biden, their boss, was leaving. Is that right?

05:26It is correct and distasteful. Confidence undermining.

05:34My God.

05:35Look, I hope you take whatever time you need to go through all of these projects penny by penny.

05:49I mean, I've heard this testimony today, well, it'll cost jobs in my state.

05:55If somebody steals $50 million and goes and spends the money in their state, that's going to stimulate the economy, isn't it?

06:05Yes, it will.

06:06But that's still stealing, isn't it?

06:09And it's still illegal, isn't it?

06:12Yes.

06:13I mean, they were spending money at the Department of Energy like it was ditch water.

06:20Their budget went from $60 billion to $160 billion since fiscal year 2021.

06:30It just sounds to me like there were a lot of people coming to the Department of Energy

06:38who had all four feet and their snout in the trough.

06:44And I hope you'll turn down the boondoggles and refer the thieves to the Department of Justice.

06:51We will indeed.

06:55Senator, the one complication in there, too, is mixed in there are good companies doing good things honestly with credible plans.

07:03And you're trying to separate the wheat from the chaff.

07:05Yes.

07:05That's what we're trying to do.

07:07That's our job.

07:08And we're doing it.

07:10But there's a lot of chaff.

07:13Let me ask you one final question.

07:14Let me go back to how many employees you have.

07:20Now, there have been some allegations today that you've cut tens of thousands of employees.

07:27Is that accurate?

07:29Well, I think the allegations were thousands.

07:32And our headcount will ultimately be reduced by thousands.

07:38But we are doing it slowly.

07:40You've got 16,000 now?

07:41Yes.

07:42And you think you can do it with fewer than 16,000?

07:45Correct.

07:46What's wrong with that?

07:49I think it's just common sense business.

07:52Yeah.

07:53Businesses do it every day in the real world.

07:57American taxpayers deserve it.

07:59That's never happened in the federal government.

08:02I mean, it's easier to divorce your spouse than to get rid of a federal employee up here.

08:08That's not the way the world works, is it, Mr. Secretary?

08:12It's not the way the world should work.

08:14And I give enormous credit to President Trump, who had the boldness to say, if there's a right

08:20thing that needs to be done and it's difficult, please do it.

08:24And so, yes, this is new territory.

08:26This is not what happens normally in the federal government.

08:28But it is what needs to happen periodically in the federal government.

08:32And I give the credit to President Trump, who's willing to take the heat and has set the departments

08:37free, make the changes you need to make to better serve American taxpayers and American

08:43consumers.

08:44And across his administration, that's what's being done.

08:47All right.

08:49On that note, I just wanted to clear that up, Mr. Secretary, because I don't know you to

08:58be a person who doesn't return his phone calls or take care of business.

09:01And my guess is you don't tolerate people around you who take a cavalier approach to their job.

09:09And I wanted to get that on the record.

09:12And I applaud you for being able to do the job with fewer people.

09:20Thank you for being here today.

09:21Thank you to all of your staff.

09:26Y'all can't take the rest of the day off.

09:28It's still the record's going to the hearing record's going to remain open for a week.

09:36Some senators may send you additional questions.

09:39They might submit additional information for the record within that time.

09:44It's their prerogative.

09:45If they have questions, I hope you'll try to answer them in a reasonable amount of time.

09:51I want to thank you for being here today.

09:53And the subcommittee will now stand adjourned.

09:57Thank you, Senator, and the committee.

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