← Videos · Energy & Permitting

Wright Delivers Opening Remarks at the Senate Budget Hearing, May 21, 2025

May 21, 2025 · U.S. Department of Energy · 0:05:43

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

What happened

Energy Secretary Chris Wright delivered his opening statement at the Senate Budget Committee’s hearing on the President’s fiscal year 2026 budget request for the Department of Energy, in the Department of Energy’s upload of the May 21, 2025 hearing. Wright greeted Chairman Kennedy and Ranking Member Murray and called energy the backbone of civilization — the essential catalyst of human progress, enabling everything from the lights and heat in homes to process heat in factories and innovation in the national laboratories.

Wright stated his priorities for the department as a golden era of American energy dominance, strengthened national security, and world leadership in innovation, including maintaining and strengthening the weapon stockpile and meeting Cold War legacy waste commitments. He said the budget would return DOE to its core mission of advancing energy innovation and global competitiveness through research and development, invest in sources and technologies that provide a return for taxpayers, and fully leverage the coal, oil, and natural gas he said the country holds in abundance — adding that on the national labs, the department is capable of doing more with less.

Why it matters

The Budget Committee appearance completes Wright’s spring circuit of the money committees: the same opening doctrine — energy as civilization’s backbone, stewardship as the test, the labs as the engine — carried to the committee that writes the Senate’s overall budget resolution.

Sources: U.S. Department of Energy, “Secretary Wright Delivers Opening Remarks at Senate Budget Hearing - May 21,2025” (official upload, embedded above; opening statement as delivered by Secretary Wright).