Senator Murray Statement on Meeting with Energy Secretary Nominee Chris Wright

Washington, D.C. - Today, U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), Vice Chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, released the following statement after meeting with Chris Wright, President Trump's nominee to be Secretary of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE):

"From the Hanford site to Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, the Department of Energy has a huge footprint in Washington state-I expect to work productively with any Secretary of Energy, so I was glad to meet with Mr. Wright today to discuss my priorities and the crucial role DOE plays in my home state.

"I fight every year, with every administration, to make sure the Hanford cleanup stays on track-and in our meeting today I made clear that supporting the tank waste mission at Hanford will require significant funding increases, which I'm committed to securing through the appropriations process. I spoke with Mr. Wright about the importance of upholding the holistic agreement and working with me to ensure that Hanford gets the funding it needs to stay on track with its essential cleanup mission.

"I pressed Mr. Wright on whether he would commit to upholding the law and ensuring that all funding passed by Congress is used in line with Congressional intent-including the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and the Inflation Reduction Act, which are absolutely essential to ensuring the United States can stay ahead of our adversaries when it comes to energy production and manufacturing. These laws are already contributing in a major way to Washington state's economy and clean energy future-it is absolutely critical that awarded, committed, and obligated funding is released in a timely manner for these projects in Washington state and across the country.

"While we disagree on plenty, if Mr. Wright is confirmed, I hope and expect that we will work together and keep open lines of communication to ensure that we continue to make progress at Hanford, invest in the future of American energy, and stay ahead of our adversaries."

As a longtime appropriator and now the top Democrat on the Senate Appropriations Committee, Senator Murray has long worked to boost funding for the Department of Energy's critical mission, including negotiating and getting signed into law a strong, bipartisan energy funding bill for Fiscal Year 2024 that strengthened investments in cutting-edge scientific research and grid security, and protected critical funding to propel renewable energy research and climate projects.

Senator Murray has worked tirelessly to support Hanford workers and ensure the federal government lives up to its cleanup obligations at Hanford throughout her time in Congress-beating back efforts by multiple administrations to underfund Hanford cleanup. As Appropriations Chair in the last Congress, Murray secured a record $3.035 billion for the Hanford cleanup-$191.4 million above the fiscal year 2023 funding level-in the fiscal year 2024 government funding package she negotiated and passed, which was signed into law last March. With significant input from Senator Murray, the President's Budget for Fiscal Year 2025 requested $3.108 billion for Hanford cleanup-a $72.2 million increase above the record funding level enacted in the FY24 package. In December 2023, Murray's Beryllium Testing Fairness Act, to help Hanford workers suffering from toxic beryllium exposure, was signed into law by President Biden.

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