The 76-day period you're talking about, that's the period between the time that President Trump was elected and President Biden left office, is that right? That is correct. And during that short period of time, 76 days, how much taxpayer money went out the door of the Department of Energy? From the loan program office in loans and commitments, 93 billion dollars. Well over twice as much as in the previous 15 years. So how do you vet and do due diligence on a loan in 76 days? One loan, much less 93 billion dollars. How do you do it? I think it's probably pretty clear it wasn't done in many cases. As I mentioned, I'm told I'm holding back clearly in place stuff. There are lots of funds that have gone out the door and commitments that were made from businesses that provided no business plan, no numbers about their own financial solvency or how this project worked. So you're telling me that the Department of Energy in the 76-day period before their boss was going to leave office gave our loan money to entities that had no business plan? Correct. No financials? Correct. A number of those were before the 76-day period as well. I've come in with great concern about how this institution, this great American institution has been run and how American taxpayer money has been handled. I'm sorry everyone's upset that we're taking some time to do it, but what we've seen and what the record shows is just responsible. I'm not upset. A lot of people say you haven't returned your calls. Could it be that you and your colleagues have returned the calls but the people calling just didn't like the answer? Could that be a possibility? I'm not aware of that. I give my cell phone number to any senator that wants it and I return my calls. Has your department gone dark? Somebody said your department's gone dark. Is it dark over there? It doesn't look dark behind me. I don't see any of you sitting on your hands. Somebody made that charge. I see everybody's hands. Let me ask you something else, Mr. Secretary. Does anybody ever come to the Department of Energy to get some of this free money and lie to you? I have not experienced that, but I think it's a reasonable assumption that that has happened. Does anybody ever come to you? Is it conceivable that some of these folks that heard about this free money came to you with a half-baked idea? I think it's very conceivable. In fact, I've seen such plans that were half-baked would be charitable. You said plans that didn't have a business plan, right? Correct. A promise to develop one, to find a location. Just give me the money and I'll develop the plan later. Correct. And now you're going back through, not money that's already been contracted, but you're going back through and checking each one of these loans and these grants to make sure there was no stealing, aren't you? We are. We are. Make sure there was no incompetence, aren't you? Is that correct? We're looking at that, and yeah, my blood pressure is rising right now, just thinking about what we have seen and what did happen at the Department. And you're going to tell some of these boondoggles no, aren't you? That's correct. And they're going to be upset, aren't they? That's correct. And they ought to be upset, shouldn't they? I don't think they should be upset. I think they should be ashamed. I am. It's rare that I'm speechless, but I want to be sure I understood the people running the Department of Energy for President Biden's administration shoveled 93 billion dollars, not million, 93 billion dollars out the door in 76 days. And it just happened to be the time between when President Trump was elected and President Biden, their boss was leaving. Is that right? It is correct and distasteful confidence undermining. My God. Look, I hope you take whatever time you need to go through all of these projects penny by penny. I mean, I've heard this testimony today. Well, it'll cost jobs in my state. If somebody steals 50 million dollars and goes and spends the money in their state, that's going to stimulate the economy, isn't it? Yes, it will. But that's still stealing, isn't it? And it's still illegal, isn't it? Yes. I mean, they were spending money at the Department of Energy like it was ditch water. Their budget went from 60 billion dollars to 160 billion dollars since fiscal year 2021. It just sounds to me like there were a lot of people coming to the Department of Energy who had all four feet and their snout in the trough. And I hope you'll turn down the boondoggles and refer the thieves to the Department of Justice. We will indeed. Senator, the one complication in there too is mixed in there are good companies doing good things honestly with credible plans. And you're trying to separate the wheat from the chaff. Yes, that's what we're trying to do. That's our job. And we're doing it. But there's a lot of chaff.
Transcribed automatically. Expect errors in names and numbers.
Post from Truth Social
Video transcript 7:03
The 76-day period you're talking about, that's the period between the time that President Trump was elected and President Biden left office, is that right? That is correct. And during that short period of time, 76 days, how much taxpayer money went out the door of the Department of Energy? From the loan program office in loans and commitments, 93 billion dollars. Well over twice as much as in the previous 15 years. So how do you vet and do due diligence on a loan in 76 days? One loan, much less 93 billion dollars. How do you do it? I think it's probably pretty clear it wasn't done in many cases. As I mentioned, I'm told I'm holding back clearly in place stuff. There are lots of funds that have gone out the door and commitments that were made from businesses that provided no business plan, no numbers about their own financial solvency or how this project worked. So you're telling me that the Department of Energy in the 76-day period before their boss was going to leave office gave our loan money to entities that had no business plan? Correct. No financials? Correct. A number of those were before the 76-day period as well. I've come in with great concern about how this institution, this great American institution has been run and how American taxpayer money has been handled. I'm sorry everyone's upset that we're taking some time to do it, but what we've seen and what the record shows is just responsible. I'm not upset. A lot of people say you haven't returned your calls. Could it be that you and your colleagues have returned the calls but the people calling just didn't like the answer? Could that be a possibility? I'm not aware of that. I give my cell phone number to any senator that wants it and I return my calls. Has your department gone dark? Somebody said your department's gone dark. Is it dark over there? It doesn't look dark behind me. I don't see any of you sitting on your hands. Somebody made that charge. I see everybody's hands. Let me ask you something else, Mr. Secretary. Does anybody ever come to the Department of Energy to get some of this free money and lie to you? I have not experienced that, but I think it's a reasonable assumption that that has happened. Does anybody ever come to you? Is it conceivable that some of these folks that heard about this free money came to you with a half-baked idea? I think it's very conceivable. In fact, I've seen such plans that were half-baked would be charitable. You said plans that didn't have a business plan, right? Correct. A promise to develop one, to find a location. Just give me the money and I'll develop the plan later. Correct. And now you're going back through, not money that's already been contracted, but you're going back through and checking each one of these loans and these grants to make sure there was no stealing, aren't you? We are. We are. Make sure there was no incompetence, aren't you? Is that correct? We're looking at that, and yeah, my blood pressure is rising right now, just thinking about what we have seen and what did happen at the Department. And you're going to tell some of these boondoggles no, aren't you? That's correct. And they're going to be upset, aren't they? That's correct. And they ought to be upset, shouldn't they? I don't think they should be upset. I think they should be ashamed. I am. It's rare that I'm speechless, but I want to be sure I understood the people running the Department of Energy for President Biden's administration shoveled 93 billion dollars, not million, 93 billion dollars out the door in 76 days. And it just happened to be the time between when President Trump was elected and President Biden, their boss was leaving. Is that right? It is correct and distasteful confidence undermining. My God. Look, I hope you take whatever time you need to go through all of these projects penny by penny. I mean, I've heard this testimony today. Well, it'll cost jobs in my state. If somebody steals 50 million dollars and goes and spends the money in their state, that's going to stimulate the economy, isn't it? Yes, it will. But that's still stealing, isn't it? And it's still illegal, isn't it? Yes. I mean, they were spending money at the Department of Energy like it was ditch water. Their budget went from 60 billion dollars to 160 billion dollars since fiscal year 2021. It just sounds to me like there were a lot of people coming to the Department of Energy who had all four feet and their snout in the trough. And I hope you'll turn down the boondoggles and refer the thieves to the Department of Justice. We will indeed. Senator, the one complication in there too is mixed in there are good companies doing good things honestly with credible plans. And you're trying to separate the wheat from the chaff. Yes, that's what we're trying to do. That's our job. And we're doing it. But there's a lot of chaff.
Transcribed automatically. Expect errors in names and numbers.