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How the DOE has been turned into a clearinghouse for thieves and embezzlers




Congress passed four laws that grew the Department of Energy to unseen levels, but did not pay attention to any manner to adequately monitor where the money goes. This was put into an inspector general report that does not seem to have many people talking. While the report does seem to be about increasing funds to the Office of Inspector General, but this is the oversight arm of any executive department. It would seem that Congress is more concerned with spending tax dollars than understanding if it is a good thing.

INVEST in America Act

The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, or INVEST in America Act, was a law meant to help the nation with infrastructure fixes and get jobs for people. The budget for the bill ended up being between $547 billion and $715 billion, depending on how the money is spent. For the DOE, this meant money being poured into nuclear power, green energy, innovation in several areas, and making sure the supply chain for the energy industry is more secure.

CHIPS and Science Act

This is a bill that was meant to spur growth in the semiconductor industry, but had many things thrown in to make one bill instead of several. One part of the bill was about making sure the security for the Supreme Court was funded, which shows how little care to coherence Congress had. The bill was meant to give companies the chance to grow and help the US with technological innovation. There were several problems found after passage, including helping one American company gain a near monopoly on the semiconductor industry.

Inflation Reduction Act

Basically, this bill was meant to increase green energy and the climate change myth. It has not reduced inflation, as the price of green energy still remains high to the point electric bills are rising. This hurt people instead of helping them, except for those in green energy and climate change myth pushing.

Puerto Rico Energy Resilience Fund

This bill is meant to help Puerto Rico be better off with their electric needs after several hurricanes have demolished the island territory. It is a better way for green energy companies to get their foot in the door on the island, though this is not entirely bad if done properly. The island is too far for transmission lines to reach from mainland US, so there needs to be a way to provide power that can be fixed quickly for the aftermath of the next hurricane.

OIG Warning

Here, via their released report, is what the OIG had to say about the increased risks from all of the money coming into the Department.

“The current situation brings tremendous risk to the taxpayers—the combination of standing up 72 new Department programs, a real risk of funding entities owned or controlled by foreign adversaries, and a historic expansion of the Department’s loan program. As you know, these loan packages are on an accelerated schedule. One category of loan guarantees worth an estimated $250 billion will expire on September 30, 2026. Another category of loan guarantees worth an estimated $40 billion will expire on the same date—$290 billion over the next 3 years or, put another way, roughly $8 billion per month over the next 36 months. There is no precedent in the Department for this level and pace of financing. To put that amount into perspective, Wells Fargo, one of the Nation’s largest banks, had an outstanding domestic commercial and industrial loan balance of $292 billion as of the end of 2022.1 Further, many of these projects are designed to promote innovation by financing projects not otherwise acceptable by private equity investors—projects the markets do not view acceptable."

"These massive new risks to the taxpayer are occurring in tandem with substantial underfunding of the Office of Inspector General (OIG). Underfunding oversight makes an inherently risky situation much more amenable to fraud, waste, and abuse. Without substantially increased resources, the OIG’s oversight will be a fraction of what it should be, and it will not include any oversight of many key areas. Moreover, the OIG will not be able to provide the near-term audit and inspection assistance that the President specifically requested to minimize the longer-term impacts from the large-scale frauds that often plague Federal programs that provide such funding on an expedited timeline. The current level of OIG funding for oversight is both inadequate and irresponsible.”

Foreign Thieves

Another area that the OIG is concerned about is foreign governments and companies having an opportunity to steal technology and funds.

“As reported in the FY 2022 Agency Financial Report, the Department supported $14.8 billion in total research and development.4 The risks associated with the theft of intellectual property will only increase as the Department continues to invest heavily utilizing funds under the IIJA, CHIPS Act, and IRA. While some of this work is for fundamental research that is freely published in public, much of it is subject to intellectual property protections and/or national security considerations. These major investments remain a target for foreign governments seeking to illicitly acquire access to U.S.-funded research and technologies. This is particularly troubling given the Department’s integral role in the development and maintenance of nuclear weapons systems, along with other pivotal national security missions. The economic and scientific value of the research and intellectual property developed within the Department’s complex has led foreign governments and their proxies to intensify efforts to extract information from the Department’s institutions.”

It would seem that there is an excessive amount of bills passed from Congress and they hurt far more than they help. These laws were part of the wishes of the Biden Administration to make them and the rest of the Democrat Party look good, so they passed them far too quickly to allow the citizens of this nation to see the real vulnerabilities brought about. It also puts the government's nose into areas where it is not needed.


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