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Wright Delivers Opening Remarks to the House Appropriations Subcommittee on the FY26 Budget, May 7, 2025

May 7, 2025 · U.S. Department of Energy · 0:07:25

Embedded from the source channel — never re-uploaded. Watch on YouTube

What happened

Energy Secretary Chris Wright delivered his opening statement to the House Appropriations subcommittee with jurisdiction over the Energy Department, in the Department of Energy’s upload of the May 7, 2025 hearing — his first hearing before the subcommittee as Secretary, as he noted from the podium, greeting Chairman Fleischmann and Ranking Member Kaptur. He called energy the backbone of civilization and the essential catalyst of human progress, and stated his priorities as a golden era of American energy dominance, strengthened national security, and world leadership in innovation.

Wright said the fiscal year 2026 budget would return DOE to its core mission of advancing energy innovation and global competitiveness through research and development, ensure taxpayer resources are allocated appropriately and cost-effectively, and invest in sources and technologies that support affordable, reliable, and secure energy with a return for taxpayers. He noted the administration had just marked its 100th day in office the week before, and framed the department’s early work — securing energy systems, maintaining weapon stockpiles, and meeting Cold War legacy waste commitments — as the opening of that agenda.

Why it matters

The May 7 statement is Wright’s first appropriations testimony — the hearing where the budget doctrine meets the committee that actually funds the department — and it opens the sequence of FY26 openings he delivered across four committees that spring.

Sources: U.S. Department of Energy, “Secretary Wright’s Opening Remarks to House Appropriations Subcommittee on FY26 Budget - May 7, 2025” (official upload, embedded above; opening statement as delivered by Secretary Wright).