On the recordMay 17, 2016
I appreciate my friendship with the gentleman from Alabama, but I think this amendment goes way too far. To fence half the funds of the Office of the Secretary of Energy is overkill. Secretary Moniz has done an excellent job. This is really a punishment, though, that will go to the next Secretary, a man who is not in any way responsible for this delay. Has there been a delay? It is my information that the chairman of the full committee has had access to this report. Access to this report has been offered to the gentleman from Alabama and to myself. Without having read the report, we do not know what issues of classification or bureaucracy are involved in this. But this is among the Nation's most precious and most classified secrets. To me, to use a sledgehammer like this against a good person and against that good person's successor, whoever that may be, is really a crude way to handle a breakdown in communications. Surely there is a better way to solve this problem. His office is just down the street. We get along with him just fine. He has been fully communicative and extremely able in every aspect. But to have a delayed report merit a sanction like this is pretty extraordinary. So I would urge my friend, the gentleman from Alabama, to reconsider and not have what I consider to be a staff-driven tiff escalate into something much greater than it should be. Mr. Chairman, I reserve the balance of my time.
