Review - S 2302 Introduced – DOE Organization

Last month, Sen Barrasso (R,WY) introduced S 2302 (no fancy name). The bill would amend 42 USC 7133(a), which lists the duties of the eight Assistant Secretaries of the Department of Energy. It removes some of the wording of §7133(a) and adds a paragraph (12) listing security and emergency response related duties for Assistant Secretaries.

Barrasso is the Ranking Member of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee to which this bill was assigned for consideration and his sole cosponsor {Sen Risch (R,ID)} is also a member of the Committee. Normally, this would mean that Barrasso would have enough influence to see the bill considered in Committee. The fact, however, that there is no Democrat cosponsor would seem to indicate that there are conflicts within the Committee about these provisions that may mitigate against the consideration.

For a closer look at the details of the changes proposed in this bill and their potential political ramifications, see my article at CFSN Detailed Analysis - https://patrickcoyle.substack.com/p/s-2302-introduced - subscription required.