On 10/19/2023, during a Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee hearing on the DOE’s grant and loan process through the Inflation Reduction Act and the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, Sen. Josh Hawley of Missouri questioned two officials from the Department of Energy (DOE), Jigar Shah, the Director of Loan Programs, and Teri L. Donaldson, the Inspector General about pay-to-play events and insider stock trading. Senator Hawley called on Inspector General Donaldson to investigate the ethical lapses at the DOE, such as illegal stock trading by Department officials, in light of reports that hundreds of DOE officials hold stocks related to the agency’s work.

Hawley: The Wall Street Journal published back in February a report. I’m just going to quote the headline; here it is, “Hundreds of Energy Department officials hold stocks related to AGY’s work despite warnings.” Have you been tracking this? Have you seen these reports?

Donaldson: I have, Senator.

Hawley: So that includes, sadly, the Secretary of Energy who testified right there to this Committee in response to questions from me that she didn’t own any individual stocks. I asked her three times in April, “Do you own individual stocks?” Three times she said, “No, absolutely not, absolutely not, absolutely not.” Two months later, she wrote the chairman and said, “Actually, I did,” and she didn’t divest of them until May, and then she didn’t tell us until a month later. Ah, that’s a big problem. The fact that she misled this committee and didn’t tell us. The fact that we have all of these Energy Department officials holding stocks related to the agency’s work. I mean, what is going on at DOE? Do you have the authority to look into this, Miss Donaldson?

Donaldson: Well, there’s a mechanism set up in the law, So, you can, in fact, hold stock and be an employee for the government. You cannot participate in any decision that might impact the value of that stock. There are different rules that apply here, and those can be driven by Congress or they can be driven by regulation or policy.

In that particular situation, when you spoke about your questions about other DOE employees, they get notices reminding them, basically. So, if they own stock in Ford, they’ll get a notice saying, “Don’t forget, nothing having to do with Ford.” So, those notices don’t carry with them any kind of penalty. It’s part of the process set up to make sure they keep track of their own, what you would view to be a conflict or potential conflict.

Hawley: Well, my time has expired. I thank you for your work, Mr. Donaldson. I’m going to send you a letter about this, and I hope that we might ask you to look into this. I know the ranking member’s already asked you to look into Secretary Granholm’s testimony before this committee. But I am firmly of the view that we need to change the law here. Senior executive branch officials should not be able to own individual stock, nor should members of Congress. We shouldn’t be stock trading, and nor should anybody who is sitting at this table. So, I am distressed by it.

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Hawley: DOE Sec Jennifer Granholm misled this committee, DOE officials hold stocks related to work