The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee recently held a hearing to examine the Department of Energy’s Fiscal Year 2026 Budget Request. DOE Secretary Chris Wright served as the only witness.
At the hearing, several senators raised the ongoing review of federal funding, announced by DOE in May.
Committee Chair Mike Lee (R-UT) expressed support for the effort, particularly the review of loans made by the DOE Loan Program Office (LPO).
Wright said that DOE is conducting a thorough review of financial assistance to determine which projects meet the economic, national security, and energy security standards necessary to maintain DOE’s investment.
He said projects would be evaluated in a business-like manner, not a political one. Wright also said that some projects will pass the review, some may be asked to make modifications, and some projects will be terminated.
Senator Angus King (I-ME) asked about funding under the GRIP program, to which Secretary Wright responded that there are a lot of really good GRIP projects.
Wright expressed support for the reconciliation bill, also known as the One Big Beautiful Bill, during his opening statement.
Senator Maria Cantwell (D-WA) inquired about tax credits for hydropower and whether the secretary considers hydropower to be a baseload energy source.
Wright said he views hydropower as baseload and believes repowering and increasing the yield from existing dams can be beneficial to the grid.
Cantwell also asked if the secretary supports eliminating the 45V tax credit for hydrogen.
Wright said the government record in picking energy winners and losers is a poor one, and his default position is that the less government involvement, the better.
He added, however, that in the real world, that isn’t possible. He said the tax credits for wind, solar, and batteries are “the most offensive,” but that hydrogen energy, in general, is tough to see how the math works out for it to become a meaningful energy source in the long run.
Wright said he expects nuclear to be the fastest-growing energy source in the future, but that, currently, it is almost impossible to permit any nuclear generation. He said DOE will use all available resources to support nuclear including the test reactor at Idaho National Laboratory.
Wright said he expects to see several small modular reactors running in the test reactor by this time next year.
