Energy Secretary Chris Wright took a stand for the Loan Programs Office during a Wednesday Hill budget hearing, specifically telling lawmakers they should be very careful in cutting the department’s “most effective tool” in aiding emerging low-emissions energy technologies.
At the Senate Appropriations Energy and Water Development Subcommittee hearing on the Department of Energy’s budget request, Wright appeared to advocate against House Republicans’ proposal to cut all unobligated Inflation Reduction Act funding to the loan office as part of their party-line budget reconciliation effort.
“It is really the most efficient tool we have in the department to help emerging energy technologies,” Wright said. “I know [the reconciliation bill] comes to the Senate next. I’m making a plea: Don’t enact the budget we send, enact the budget you know we need.”
Wright was particularly bullish on the LPO’s potential effect on nuclear energy. Next-generation reactors have struggled to prove that they can be an economic source of energy, and industry watchers widely agree federal funding will be critical to them meeting that goal.
