“And during that short period of time, 76 days, how much taxpayer money went out the door of the Department of Energy?” Kennedy said, to which Wright replied, “From the loan program office, in loans and commitments, $93 billion dollars. Well over twice as much as in the previous 15 years.”
“How do you vet and do due diligence on a loan in 76 days? One loan, much less $93 billion dollars. How do you do it?” Kennedy queried. Wright said he believes it was clear it was not done in many cases.
He added that “There are lots of funds that have gone out the door and commitments that were made from businesses that provided no business plan, no numbers about their own financial solvency.”
Kennedy pressed the matter further, asking Wright, “So you’re telling me that the Department of Energy, in the 76 day period, before their boss was gonna leave office, gave or loaned money to entities that had no business plan?”
Wright said he was correct, later adding, “I’ve come in with great concern about how this institution, this great American institution, has been run and how American taxpayer money has been handled.”