Ranking appropriations Dems demand DOE briefing on layoffs

Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) and Rep. Marcy Kaptur (D-Ohio) issued a joint statement demanding an immediate briefing on the firings in the Department of Energy by its secretary Chris Wright.

“While there have been reports that the Department has halted firings of NNSA [National Nuclear Security Administration] employees, we remain deeply troubled that the Department has not reversed course on firing the rest of the Department’s probationary employees,” the ranking Democrats of the Senate and House Appropriation Subcommittees on Energy and Water said in the weekend statement. They add “those entrusted with nuclear security and safety” should not have been “relieved of their duties at all.”

The DOE did not say by deadline whether any briefing has been scheduled.

Late last Thursday Feb. 13, the Donald Trump administration and its Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), led by technology billionaire Elon Musk, fired over 300 employees and all probationary employees out of 1,800 at the DOE’s semi-autonomous NNSA. Over the weekend, NNSA’s acting director Teresa Robbins rescinded the firing of most of the employees.

While DOGE is not an official congressionally-created department, the Musk-led organization has the strong backing of Trump. The Republican-controlled majorities in the House and Senate have to date not tried to put the brakes on DOGE. 

Murray and Kaptur also pointed out the “disturbing news” that “fired nuclear safety employees whose dismissals were meant to be reversed cannot be contacted.”

“We find it deeply troubling that the Department—in standing firm in the decision to fire of hundreds of employees at the Office of Environmental Management despite walking back layoffs at NNSA—has sent a strong message that it does not view the oversight and safety of legacy nuclear weapons cleanup sites as a national security priority,” the statement said.

Murray and Kaptur said Wright must brief Congress “immediately” on the impact of the firings.

“We strongly suggest your administration pay far closer attention to the work carried out by the federal employees subject to these seemingly indiscriminate and arbitrary layoffs,” the statement concluded. “We are committed to ensuring that the Department of Energy is allowed to continue the missions which they have been entrusted to carry out for our safety, security, and to help lower energy costs.”