Sen Kennedy (R-LA), Is Left Speechless Over 93 Billion Bucks Being Thrown to The Wind As Biden Left Office

The following goes back to May 24th, 2025.

I am going to give two separate accounts of the brouhaha over what has been going on in our nation regarding the affairs of the US Department of Energy. In a sense, each account of the various matters pits one against the other. I imagine that the Republicans see our side, while the Democrats view only theirs.

Here is a summary of what has been going on:

Some 93 billion dollars were loaned out by the US Department of Energy (DOE) to various business concerns. It can be assumed that most of these businesses, if they actually exist, are the type of enterprises involved in "greening the planet" or "saving humanity from the ravages of climate change." In most cases, there was no vetting of where the money was going. And few, if any, actual business plans were ever submitted that might have demonstrated to anyone at the department that anything at all would ever be accomplished.

May I add that all of this 93 billion dollars was spent in the final 76 days of Biden's term, after Trump was announced as the winner of the Oval Office and Sleepy Joe was on his way out? (Not that good ol' Joe had been "in" for much of the preceding 4 years.)

I should also add that this was twice as much money as the US DOE had awarded over its past 15 years - all speedily and efficiently handed over to the "Friends of the Democrat Leadership," I presume.

There is quite a lot of explanation offered up in a fine article from Climate Depot, which spotlights Senator John Kennedy's pertinent questions to the US Energy cabinet member, Christopher Wright.

(Wright was the Republican Congressman from the NY 16th District. I am uncertain if he still holds this position or had to surrender it upon his being appointed to Trump's cabinet.)

Kennedy asks how much money went out the door as President Biden was leaving office. The answer was that 93 billion dollars of loans were offered to various enterprises. Since this happened over a period of only 76 days, Kennedy asked Wright how it was possible that the companies that received the monies were properly vetted. Wright stated that since the investigation into the matter was comparatively new, he didn't have the answers. However, he had real concerns that what would be discovered was that little underwriting of the loan proposals had ever happened.

In fact, Wright reveals he has viewed some of these matters, and not only were there no business plans submitted for him to analyze, in some cases there wasn't even anything but promises that, sooner or later, the companies would get around to offering up a business plan!

Kennedy asks, "So the people running the US Department of Energy shoveled out $93 billion of solicited dollars at the same time when Biden was leaving his office?" He then follows, "And now you are going back through, uh, not through the money that has already been contracted, but by checking each one of these loans and grants to make sure there was no stealing...?"

Wright says, "We are looking at these and in thinking about this, my blood pressure is rising."

Kennedy: "And you may be contacting some of these people to tell them they are going to need to hand back the money that they received to the government?" He added, "And then do you think some of these people will be upset?"

Wright answers, "I would think the word would be 'ashamed'."

During their exchange, the good senator from Louisiana is astounded to the point that he then declares that this whole affair "leaves me speechless." Anyone who frequently views YouTube accounts of Kennedy's congressional interrogations knows how rare an event such speechlessness happens to be!

Eventually, Kennedy mentions that there had to be some good companies that received monies which they deserved, but these companies are mixed in with the flimflam grifters. He also encourages Wright to see to it that those who were guilty of taking money that they did not deserve soon realize that cases may be coming before the Department of Justice.

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Okay. The above wraps up the situation as Republicans view things. But Democrats are taking a different approach. They are loudly and repeatedly expressing concerns that if the government claws back monies given to companies that should never have gotten the financial support, then in returning the monies, innocent citizens who may have gotten jobs at some of the companies will be injured by becoming or remaining unemployed. And in a rather inconsistent manner of expressing themselves, Democrats also complain that Wright and his staff are taking too long to claw back the monies that were handed out.

The other side of the aisle may have taken some comfort in this article from E&E News:

"Chris Wright sought to downplay the Department of Energy’s staffing and spending cuts Wednesday as he faced lawmakers for the first time since he became a Cabinet member.

"The Energy secretary spent much of his time in front of the House Appropriations Energy and Water subcommittee defending President Donald Trump’s fiscal 2026 budget proposal, which includes draconian cuts to federal spending. He dismissed concerns raised by Democrats, the energy industry, and environmentalists of a mass exodus of DOE employees.

"The department has lost less than 1,000 people since Inauguration Day, Wright said. More than 3,000 of DOE’s roughly 16,000 employees have opted to resign as part of the Trump administration’s deferred resignation process, although some employees have not yet departed."

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In any event, I am wondering if I can retroactively have my plan funded to save space as far as water storage goes. My invention allows local governments to store my dehydrated water packets instead of the usual cumbersome liquid H2O, which always requires large water tanks. All I might need to make this happen is the name and phone number of the cabinet member who Christopher Wright replaced. Can anyone here help?

Or, if no one here has that name and phone number, you could consider buying my dehydrated water packets? They make your summer hiking adventure a lot simpler, as you no longer need bulky canteens. Once you arrive at your campsite, all you will need to do, of course, is add water!

Lately I have had my knickers in a knot that I hadn't gotten my proposal for funding this invention off to the former, and more liberally generous, office staff at the US DOE. They'd have given me a couple of million bucks in a heartbeat! And all that would have been required of me was to give half of their offering back to them the very next time campaign contributions are needed.