This is a common theme in Republican administrations dating back to presidents Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan. What you do is you break the government, make it very hard for the government to function, and then you loudly announce that the government can’t do anything.
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Department of Energy and Related Commissions
Needed Reforms
• Stop risking taxpayer dollars as venture capital for the private sector. ARPA-E tends to see its mission as bringing technology from idea to commercialization. Often called the investment trough, ARPA-E is effectively funding projects that the private sector is unwilling to fund. Taxpayers should not in effect be picking winners and losers—and having their dollars at risk but not gaining the economic rewards of success.
• End duplicative efforts. Another problem is that ARPA-E’s mission is similar to the missions of DOE’s applied energy offices. If DOE’s applied energy offices are doing their jobs correctly, they will use Funding Opportunities Announcements, prizes, lab calls, and other funding mechanisms that are needed to accomplish a specific goal. In other words, ARPA-E is at best duplicating the work done by other DOE offices.
New Policies
• Eliminate ARPA-E. The next Administration should work with Congress to eliminate ARPA-E. The agency is unnecessary, risks taxpayer dollars, and interferes with risk-benefit decisions that should be made by the private sector.
Budget Congress appropriated $427 million for ARPA-E in FY 2021, and slightly more than $700 million has been requested for FY 2023."
FEDERAL ENERGY MANAGEMENT PROGRAM (FEMP)
Mission/Overview
The Federal Energy Management Program (FEMP) describes its mission as working with “other federal agencies to meet energy-related goals, identify affordable solutions, facilitate public-private partnerships, and provide energy leadership to the country by identifying government best practices.” Congress has created a number of energy and energy efficiency requirements and guidelines for federal agencies, and FEMP works with those agencies to help them meet their congressionally mandated goals.
Needed Reforms
As the world’s largest single energy consumer, the federal government should use energy efficiently and cost-effectively—especially because the taxpayer is paying the energy bills. The Obama Administration required the federal government to set extrastatutory and aggressive goals regarding the use of renewable