‘Why Are We Doing All This?’: John Kennedy Presses Wright On DoE’s ‘Nearly $100 Billion’ Spent On Loans

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During Wednesday’s Senate Appropriations Committee hearing, Sen. John Kennedy (R-LA) questioned Energy Secretary Chris Wright about the Department of Energy’s loans.

Transcript

00:00for the opportunity to testify before the committee today.

00:03Thank you, Mr. Secretary.

00:06Mr. Secretary, how many employees did the Department of Energy have when you took over?

00:14Just around 16,000 government employees.

00:17How many does it have today?

00:20A little under 16,000 today.

00:23How much have you reduced it, percentage-wise?

00:26So far, only a relatively small amount.

00:29We are looking at larger reductions, and as Senator Murray mentioned,

00:33we have offered voluntary plans and programs for people to be compensated by the government

00:39as they transition to another career.

00:41We've done this slowly, carefully, with a lot of engagement with people

00:45and while looking at how to restructure our department.

00:49So the ultimate reduction in the workforce will be larger than it's been today,

00:52but today our payroll has barely moved.

00:54Most entities in the private sector of the size of the Department of Energy

01:01know how to modernize and downsize, do they not?

01:07It's essential to survival as a business.

01:09If you want to roll with changes in the marketplace and the business,

01:12you better be ready to change your organization.

01:14I just read recently where Microsoft, one of the most successful companies in the world,

01:20is going to reduce its workforce by 6,000 employees.

01:27I mean, do you think that's going to be the end of Microsoft?

01:32No, it won't be the end of Microsoft.

01:34These are, I will say, these are the hardest things to do,

01:37whether it's in a company or a government agency.

01:39You know, these are people's lives, and our department is blessed with tremendous men and women

01:45who've made enormous contributions.

01:47But you're right, Senator Kennedy, we have to look at it critically

01:50and right-size and align the organization to the missions and challenges of the day.

01:55Let me ask you a couple of specific questions, Mr. Secretary.

01:58As a result, we have a party around here under the Biden administration.

02:04And when you have a party, you have to pay the band when the party's over.

02:09As a result of the party, if you count the Inflation Reduction Act, which was the Green New Deal,

02:21the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, also part of the Green New Deal,

02:27the Chips and Science Act, your department got $99 billion in new appropriations,

02:35$30.5 billion in new authorizations, and loan authority of over $400 billion.

02:43How much of that $400 billion authority to loan money did the Department of Energy use?

02:52Nearly $100 billion.

02:56Nearly $100 billion.

02:57Thank you for making the point that more money, as is shown in your graph and the numbers you quoted,

03:03and more people, that headcount in the department grew over 20% during those four years.

03:08Our electricity output of the nation as a whole grew about 2%,

03:13and the cost per unit of electricity grew 28%.

03:17We didn't deliver results for all that.

03:19Here's what the Inspector General said about some of the loans.

03:26The Inspector General, these are the Inspector General's assessment, not mine.

03:31The Inspector General called many of these loans, quote, high risk.

03:36High risk, high risk, and he said that these loans were designed to promote innovation by financing projects, fine,

03:49not otherwise acceptable by private equity investors.

03:55What does that mean?

03:56That means that the private sector wouldn't get near these projects with a 10-foot pole, would they?

04:02Only government would put up the money, wouldn't it?

04:04That's correct.

04:05For example, he found that DOE, under your predecessor, announced that it was going to make a $400 million loan.

04:18Actually, it wasn't a loan.

04:19It was a grant to two companies.

04:22They announced it.

04:23And then somebody pointed out to them that they were Chinese companies.

04:29They had to pull the grant back.

04:30Why are we loaning money?

04:37This is another issue brought out by the Inspector General.

04:41Why are we loaning $7.5 billion to Stellantis?

04:49They can't get a bank loan themselves.

04:51I mean, J.P. Morgan and Bank of America have been shoving money out the door for energy projects.

05:01Why did we loan $9.63 billion to Blue Oval?

05:06Why are we doing all of this?

05:09I'm going to quickly give you an example.

05:13I had a gentleman, I'm not going to use any names, come into my office yesterday.

05:17Anyway, he's from a very wealthy family in another country.

05:20He wants to build a solar manufacturing plant in America.

05:25He's putting up a billion dollars.

05:28You know how much the American taxpayer is going to put up?

05:32$850 million.

05:34So he's going to get, thanks to the American taxpayer, a billion-dollar plant for $150 million

05:44to produce solar panels, which the world is a wash-in.

05:53This is unconscionable.

05:56And I hope you'll do something about it, Mr. Secretary.

05:59Now, at some point, we're going to get real specific about savings.

06:03And I'm going to expect you to get real specific with us.

06:07I don't want to not fund anything that's vital.

06:11But I'm tired of the spending porn.

06:14I'm tired of it.

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