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Secretary Wright Visits the Nevada National Security Sites amid Shutdown, Oct. 21, 2025

February 20, 2026 · U.S. Department of Energy · 0:01:01

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

What happened

Secretary of Energy Chris Wright, speaking at the Nevada National Security Site on what he calls day 20 of the shutdown, describes the shutdown — in his words — as reckless and irresponsible and driven by Senate Democrats, putting national nuclear security and Nevada families at risk.

Wright states that earlier that day, at the Nevada field office, he saw 68 furloughed federal workers walk out, unable to work or be paid. He states that the Trump administration creatively found funding to keep the thousands of contractors at the site and across the complex working at least through the end of the month, while adding that it is unknown how much longer that can continue, and calls for the shutdown to end.

Why it matters

The statement gives the shutdown a nuclear-security address: a named site, a specific furlough count, and a funding bridge for contractors with an stated end-of-month limit.

Scoreboard watch

Scoreboard candidate: the 68 furloughed workers at the Nevada field office and the contractor funding running at least to the end of the month, as the Secretary stated them. Flagged for the scoreboard editor; no verdict given here.

Sources: U.S. Department of Energy, “Secretary Wright Visits the Nevada National Security Sites amid Shutdown, Oct. 21, 2025”, Nevada National Security Site, 2026-02-20 (official upload, embedded above; published 2026-02-20). Transcript via Supadata (private research store, paraphrased and attributed, not republished). All figures and characterizations as stated by the speakers.