Energy and Water Development and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2025

Floor Speech

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Ms. TENNEY. Mr. Chair, I rise today to offer my amendment No. 60 to reduce the salary of Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm to $1.

Since taking office in January 2021, Secretary Granholm has violated the Hatch Act multiple times. She owned Proterra stock while her boss, President Biden, repeatedly promoted the company. Her husband owned Ford stock while she personally promoted the company's work with official resources. She cashed in on millions of dollars after these illegal transactions and a failure to disclose obvious conflicts were revealed.

Most critically, she lied under oath to Congress, claiming that she did not own any individual stocks when, in fact, she did. Anyone disputing these charges should consult the following articles: Reuters, ``U.S. Energy Secretary Granholm violated ethics law, watchdog says''; CNN, ``Biden touts electric car company potentially worth millions for his Energy Secretary''; Washington Free Beacon, ``Energy [Secretary's] husband held stock in Ford as admin approved billions in electric vehicle subsidies''; and FOX News, ``Biden Energy Secretary Granholm admits false testimony about owning stocks.''

Secretary Granholm has also promoted the Biden administration's disastrous energy policies that are crippling our country and preventing us from maximizing our energy independence and the all-of- the-above strategy.

Energy security is national security, and Secretary Granholm is directly jeopardizing our national security and violating our laws under the Hatch Act.

Mr. Chair, I urge all of my colleagues to join me in defunding Secretary Granholm's salary by voting for this amendment, and I reserve the balance of my time.

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Ms. TENNEY. Mr. Chair, I heard the assertions made by my colleague. As I indicated, I cited actual news sources. The Secretary actually testified before Congress, and it was determined that she lied under oath.

Violating the Hatch Act is a crime under Federal statutes. It is time that Ms. Granholm either resign or we should reduce her salary. We have the right under Congress with our power of the purse to reduce her salary, and that is exactly what we are doing here under the Holman rule.

Mr. Chairman, I yield back the balance of my time.
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Ms. TENNEY. Mr. Chairman, I rise today to offer my amendment No. 61 to the Energy-Water Development appropriations bill to prohibit funding for President Biden's Executive Order No. 14019, titled: ``Executive Order on Promoting Access to Voting.''

This executive order requires Federal agencies to use their power, influence, resources, and Federal funding to enter into agreements with nongovernmental agencies and organizations to conduct voter registration and other mobilization activities.

Mr. Chairman, this executive order is nothing more than a blatant attempt to transform the Federal Government into a partisan get-out- the-vote machine for Democrats.

The Department of Energy should be nonpartisan, and Federal agencies should not be using taxpayer funds to actively engage in get-out-the- vote operations that have nothing to do with the agencies' core missions, not to mention the obvious mission creep and Hatch Act violations this activity would trigger.

Mr. Chair, President Biden should not be using American taxpayer dollars to weaponize the Federal Government to manipulate and steer our election in a partisan manner. As the cofounder and chair of the Election Integrity Caucus, it is my privilege to introduce this amendment to restore transparency and confidence in our democratic process while keeping partisan Federal bureaucrats and the swamp from deliberately tipping the balance at the ballot box.

I stand firmly behind the concept of one citizen, one vote, as enshrined in our Constitution. However, I do not support this blatantly partisan mobilization of the Federal Government for political purposes. No citizen should have their vote diluted by Federal bureaucrats.

While our energy infrastructure and independence are at risk, and so many communities in our districts do not have safe, clean drinking water, the funds in this bill should be spent for the purpose they are appropriated, not implementing a partisan get-out-the-vote initiative.

Mr. Chairman, I urge all of my colleagues to support this amendment, which will preserve election integrity and stop the Biden administration from transforming the people's government into a get- out-the-vote machine for partisan Democrats. Let's make voting great again.

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Ms. TENNEY. Mr. Chair, unfortunately, my colleague is not correct on this. The Biden administration put out Executive Order No. 14019 and tasked all Federal agencies, including all the agencies that are included in this appropriations bill, to get involved with third parties in order to get out the vote, moving away from providing the core missions we described that each of these agencies under their appropriated designations are required to perform under law.

They are not allowed to get engaged in political processes, a direct violation of the Hatch Act. That is why this bill is germane, and that is why I urge all of my colleagues to actually support this bill.

Mr. Chair, I yield back the balance of my time.

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