The Energy Department will not be doing away with its Loan Programs Office but instead will use it to advance the construction of nuclear power, Energy Secretary Chris Wright told Congress.

Wright discussed the LPO, which Republicans have sought to cut following its enlargement by Democrats under former President Joe Biden, while appearing before the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Energy and Water Development on Wednesday for a fiscal 2026 spending hearing focused on the DOE’s budget.

Recommended Stories

• GOP advances energy portion of Trump tax bill, adding last-minute public land sales
• ​​Democratic states sue White House over halting wind energy projects: 'Reckless'
• Senate votes to cancel Biden standards on tire manufacturing emissions 

The secretary made it clear that as the department intends to spearhead nuclear energy development in the United States, the LPO will play a critical role in providing federal funding for those efforts. But, it may not be as much as those in the industry might like, as Wright said private investment needs to be the driving force.

“We do have a reduction in spending within the Nuclear Energy Department at DOE,” Wright said. “It in no way indicates a lack of focus or a lack of desire or even a reduction in desire for nuclear energy.”

“As a career entrepreneur to really make nuclear energy work, the biggest thing we need, by far, is private capital, investment capital. … Our goal is to bring in tens of billions of dollars during this administration in private capital to get reactors built, and I’m highly confident we will achieve that goal,” Wright said.

He said the department will utilize grants from the Nuclear Energy Office and the LPO to provide capital. He emphasized, though, that the majority of the money going into the industry will need to be private.

“There will be government capital, as you’re well aware of, there’ll be government loans and loan guarantees, and they’ll be catalyzing regulatory events to bring that private capital in,” Wright said.

Concerns regarding the future of the lending program have grown in recent weeks as the office has seen dramatic staffing cuts amid the administration’s efforts to shrink federal spending.

Just one day before Wright’s appearance before Congress, E&E News reported that the DOE was seeking to determine the market value of clean energy loans managed by the LPO — a move that signals the administration may be seeking to shut down the office.

In an email exchange viewed by the outlet between DOE appointee Travis Boeker and Bank of America’s Loren Harman, Boeker revealed that the request to evaluate the loans’ value came from the White House. If the DOE were to sell the loans to private institutions and banks, one staffer told E&E News, it would not take much else to close its doors.

Republicans have repeatedly criticized the LPO in recent years, dubbing it Biden’s “Green Bank” after its lending capabilities swelled to nearly $412 billion due to the Democratic-passed Inflation Reduction Act. Many of the recent projects the office has funded have been focused on clean energy, involving solar, electric vehicles, and carbon capture technologies.

It has been used to prop up energy development as early as 2005 and was primarily used under the first Trump administration to support the expansion of the Vogtle Nuclear Plant in Georgia.

Last month, nuclear advocates asked Wright to utilize the LPO for the industry to support the administration’s energy dominance and artificial intelligence agenda. Dozens of think tanks, clean energy companies, and nuclear energy firms asked the DOE to protect the LPO from mass cuts hitting all government agencies.

Without appropriate staffing in the office, the groups warned, the government was running the risk of slowing or stalling critical energy projects that would serve the president’s priorities.

As of mid-April, nearly 60% of LPO staff sought to opt into the Trump administration’s deferred resignation program, sending the office back to pre-Biden staffing levels.

GOP ADVANCES ENERGY PORTION OF TRUMP TAX BILL, ADDING LAST-MINUTE PUBLIC LAND SALES

Two department employees confirmed to the Washington Examiner that employees who have remained at the office are bracing for additional layoffs. One employee said the department may shrink divisions once made up of 70 people to just five or seven staffers.

While the employees have said they will be able to manage the existing portfolio with the cuts, it will make it increasingly difficult to take on new projects.