House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) is threatening to subpoena Department of Energy (DOE) Secretary Jennifer Granholm to voluntarily testify before the House committee after repeated failed attempts to get her testimony.
Mr. Comer expressed frustration on Friday after Ms. Granholm made an appearance on ABC talk show program “The View,” despite not meeting earlier requests for her testimony before Congress.
“On January 23, 2024, my staff initially contacted your staff to find an agreeable date and for your participation in a hearing to conduct general oversight over the activities of the DOE under your leadership,” Mr. Comer stated in a Friday letter to the energy secretary.
The Republican committee chairman noted he again reached out on March 27, with a formal request for Ms. Granholm’s participation in a hearing.
“Instead of confirming your availability or seeking an alternate date, DOE offered Deputy Secretary David Turk to the Committee as the ‘most appropriate choice’ to explain your leadership of the Department,” Mr. Comer continued. “The Committee finds this response unacceptable and requires your participation to discuss your leadership of the Department.”
Mr. Comer called on Ms. Granholm to confirm she will testify before his committee on May 15, adding that the Republican-led committee would use “compulsory” measures if she did not voluntarily cooperate.
The lawmaker sent his letter shortly after the energy secretary posted a photo to X on Friday morning, showing her sitting alongside the cast of “The View.” Ms. Granholm indicated she was there to debut a “Driving Electric Calculator” and to show Americans “how much they could save on fuel by making the switch” to an electric vehicle.
“[Ms. Granholm] can’t seem to find a time to appear before [House Oversight Committee]. But she did find the time to appear on [‘The View’] this week,” Mr. Comer wrote in his own X post on Friday afternoon. “Secretary Granholm must avoid further delay & appear for a scheduled hearing on May 15. I’m prepared to issue a subpoena.”
NTD News reached out to the Department of Energy about the reasons Ms. Granholm had not accommodated past requests for her testimony, and for comment about the latest subpoena warnings. The department did not offer a response by press time.
Republicans Scrutinize LNG Export Pause, Other Biden Energy Policies
Though Mr. Comer’s latest letter did not specify what specific topics he would hope to cover with Ms. Granholm in a future congressional hearing, he has recently pressed her for details regarding the decision between her department and the Biden White House to halt new liquid natural gas (LNG) exports.
On Jan. 26, President Joe Biden’s administration formally announced the decision to halt new LNG exports and conduct a review of their impacts on energy costs and environmental impacts.
In a March 18 letter, Mr. Comer had called on Ms. Granholm to provide details about the LNG export pause decision.
In his March 27 letter inviting her to testify, Mr. Comer again noted an interest in Ms. Granholm’s testimony regarding the LNG export pause. He also called for her to address “the increased risk of waste, fraud, and abuse at the Department,” as well as “the misuse of the Strategic Petroleum Reserve” and an electric vehicle road trip Ms. Granholm participated in last year.
Ms. Granholm’s road trip reportedly encountered unique challenges, including struggles to find charging stations to keep the electric vehicles running. In one incident, a DOE employee driving a traditional internal combustion engine vehicle drove ahead to find a charging station and parked in front of it to hold it for Ms. Granholm’s EV caravan. NPR reported a family trying to charge their electric vehicle called police on the DOE employee.
