A Senate Energy and Natural Resources hearing on two critical Department of Energy nominees saw withering questioning Thursday over the fate of frozen agency funds.
Alaska Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski squeezed Wells Griffith, pick for undersecretary for energy, on working “expeditiously” to unlock funds from the bipartisan infrastructure law. Dario Gil, nominee for science undersecretary, also testified.
“We passed the law, the bipartisan infrastructure act is law, and I think about the many, many benefits that we have seen through energy innovation and the projects that have really made a difference on the ground,” Murkowski said. “I would hope that you could look expeditiously at how we might be able to release those funds that have already been obligated.”
Murkowski’s inquiry followed a number of questions from committee Democrats hoping to surmise the fate of several of DOE’s clean energy offices, like the Grid Deployment Office and Office of Clean Energy Demonstrations, that were created and funded by the bipartisan infrastructure law. Both bureaus have been mentioned as potential targets of sweeping rollbacks in internal agency documents.
