By forcing the 1582-page omnibus through Congress in around 69 1/2 hours, lawmakers appropriated $1.1 trillion dollars with an alarming lack of transparency.  As a result, few probably read the provision on page 422 that, fittingly, allows the Department of Energy (DOE) to make risky loans and loan guarantees with less transparency.   

Title XVII of the Energy Policy Act of 2005, as amended, authorized the DOE to guarantee $52 billion in loans to energy start-ups and other companies with un-commercialized technology by creating the Loan Guarantee Program (LGP).  Since its creation, DOE’s process of determining which projects to back with a loan guarantee has been worryingly opaque.  Annual reports by the Government Accountability Office (GAO) on the execution of the LGP have been one of the only ways to track how the DOE is risking taxpayer money.  A provision in the recent omnibus, however, reduces such crucial oversight by directing the GAO to review the LGP every three years instead of annually. 

As of March, 2013, the LGP had $34.8 billion in remaining loan guarantee authority, and the DOE could make an additional $16.6 billion worth of direct loans to car manufacturers through the closely associated Advanced Technology Vehicles Manufacturing (ATVM) program. We know this because it was in the GAO’s annual report.

The decrease in oversight comes at a terrible time.  In December, the DOE issued its riskiest loan guarantee solicitation ever, putting taxpayers on the hook for potentially $8 billion in loans to fossil-energy projects.  DOE Secretary Moniz also indicated recently that the ATVM program, which had stopped reviewing loan applications, might renew efforts to lend $16.6 billion to automakers.  Of course, it will be harder to know the status of the program because the GAO won’t be reporting on it frequently.

It’s bad enough that the Omnibus wasted millions by unnecessarily refurbishing ships, supporting an imminently bankrupt company, and throwing money away in a host of other ways, but using the flawed and opaque appropriations process to make DOE’s process of risking billions less transparent is just adding insult to injury.