Leading Democratic appropriators in the House and Senate are demanding more details on planned layoffs at the Energy Department.
In a new letter sent Friday, Rep. Marcy Kaptur (D-Ohio) and Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) called on Energy Secretary Chris Wright to “immediately halt” any efforts tied to planned reductions in force and transmit information to the Hill justifying the moves.
The Energy Department has issued nearly 200 RIF notices to employees. Among the targeted divisions are the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, the State and Community Energy Programs and the Office of Clean Energy Demonstrations.
“DOE should be advancing America’s clean energy future and reducing energy costs for consumers — not dismantling the offices that make it possible,” the lawmakers wrote. Kaptur and Murray are the top Democrats on their chambers’ respective Energy and Water Development Appropriations panels.
The Trump administration’s planned layoffs of some 4,000 total federal workers, including those at the Energy Department, were halted by a federal judge’s order last week.
Nuclear security. The firings won’t impact the agency tasked with overseeing the U.S. nuclear stockpile. However, the National Nuclear Security Administration is poised to furlough nearly 80% of its federal staff today after funding for a key account ran dry over the weekend, as we previously reported. That’ll leave just 375 federal workers on the job. It remains unclear how many NNSA contractors could ultimately be furloughed.
Wright plans to visit the Nevada National Security Site today and make a stop in Las Vegas to highlight the impact of the ongoing shutdown on workforce retention and efforts to upgrade weapons, according to the Energy Department notice. NNSA is housed within DOE.
The next cliff for the National Nuclear Security Administration: Oct. 27 — the date that funding for the office responsible for transporting nuclear materials is set to run out.
