https://www.flickr.com/photos/usembsweden/, CC BY 2.0 , via Wikimedia Commons
By Casey Harper (The Center Square)
The U.S. Department of Energy received billions of taxpayer dollars via a string of major federal spending bills, but now lawmakers are raising concerns about waste, fraud and abuse.
A watchdog report of the agency found “risks of insufficient federal staffing, potential conflicts of interest, recipient fraud, and inadequate internal controls, among others” that led to this waste in the Inflation Reduction Act and other legislation.
RELATED: GOP to Investigate Biden’s Alleged ‘Secret Deal’ With Saudi Arabian Oil Leaders
House Energy and Commerce Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Wash., announced a subcommittee hearing next week to look more into the issue.
House Oversight Republicans are interested as well. Chair James Comer, R-Ky., and subcommittee chair Pat Fallon, R-Texas, announced an investigation into the DOE. They sent a letter to Department of Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm calling for transparency and accountability in the form of documentation.
“According to a DOE Office of Inspector General (OIG) report detailing DOE’s management challenges for Fiscal Year 2023, the Department’s budget ‘will grow from managing a $45.3 billion budget in fiscal year 2022 to $100 billion of appropriated funds and $336 billion in loan authorities’ in fiscal year 2023,” the letter said. “The OIG states, ‘[t]hese are historic and unprecedented times at the Department of Energy’ and warns about ‘a greatly increased risk of fraud, waste, and mismanagement.’”
Even with that funding, energy prices have spiked since President Joe Biden took office. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics energy index rose 5.5% in the past 12 months.
Gas prices hit record highs last summer, surpassing a national average of more than $5 per gallon of regular unleaded gasoline. Prices have declined since then, but are expected to rise again later this year.
RELATED: Gas Prices to Remain High in 2023, Projected to Peak at $4.12 per Gallon in June
Earlier this week Biden came under fire from the oil and gas industry for his policies on drilling. A collection of 25 oil and gas groups released a public letter supporting a Republican bill to loosen regulations and blasting the Biden administration’s work on the issue.
“Biden Administration actions and the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) have enacted further red tape, higher costs, and permitting obstacles that serve as barriers to efficient and timely production in response to national and global demand,” the letter said. “As a result, American oil and natural gas producers have been hindered from producing up to three million barrels of oil a day, a government imposed scarcity that has created high costs for citizens and instability in relation to our adversaries in China and Russia.”
Syndicated with permission from The Center Square.
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D Greeniacs should be forced to warm their twigs, sticks and tofu w/ a magnifying glass. that'll save the plant!
Demokrat Clown Car, ya never know how many are going to come piling out of that tiny lil car.
Remember back in the olden days, when Cabinet secretaries had actual experience in their positions? I don't believe we have ANYONE today with any experience in anything working in the cabinet. IMHO, all they know is where the water fountains and bathrooms are, and what time to break for lunch.
Comments removed SPAM OK.
The dumbest most radical unqualified people ever installed in an administration. Install a clown expect a circus.
THE gift of equity and diversity working to destroy the USA!!!!!
Looks like Granholm takes incompetence lessons from Pot Hole Buttheadgirg. Salad lessons from Kamala and demented lessons from Brandon— Stupid is what she has of her own
The dumbest most radical people ever installed in an administration BY DESIGN to destroy this country.
When you start tossing around trillions of dollars as this administration has, the picture of what former president Obama stated comes into focus. "We are going to fundamentally change America." Well, to be sure, there are not enough accountants and watchdogs out there to monitor all the monies being thrown about like candy from a parade float, so the fundamental change results in collapse of the financial system, and subsequently the industrial, agricultural, and military systems go right along with it. We once were a mighty nation.
We were once governed "By Consent through a truthfully elected Administration" - PAST TENSE !