House energy subcommittee hears that pause on IRA/IIJA awards has put DOE lab projects on hold

WASHINGTON — Directors from several Department of Energy national laboratories told the House Science, Space, and Technology Subcommittee on Energy that a White House pause on some award actions and disbursements has suspended projects and put work for outside partners on hold.

Paul Kearns, director of Argonne National Laboratory, said that "about $37,000,000 in research activities have been suspended or put on hold." He said that represented work involving about 140 staff and roughly 40 full‑time equivalent positions. Kimberly Budil, director of Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, said a $7,000,000 grid‑resilience project supported by the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act had been de‑obligated from the lab and paused. Tom Mason, director of Los Alamos National Laboratory, told the panel his lab had identified about $200,000 of current DOE funding that could be affected and some additional pipeline awards "that could potentially be impacted in the future." John Wagner, director of Idaho National Laboratory, said after time to implement the memo his lab "has not been impacted."

The committee's questioning tracked to an OMB memo cited by members that instructed agencies to "temporarily pause new awards, disbursements of federal funds under all open awards, and open notices of funding opportunities." Chairman Weber and members pressed lab directors on how broadly the pause would affect projects funded by the IIJA and IRA and on statutory obligations such as the Chips and Science Act. Ranking Member Deborah Ross and other Democrats pressed for details about the paused projects' effects on workforce and grid resilience research.

Committee members repeatedly contrasted large sums allocated to new programs under the IIJA and IRA with amounts directed to the Office of Science. In opening remarks, one member said the Office of Science and its labs received "only 2,000,000,000," a figure cited in committee debate; lab witnesses did not assert that figure themselves. Chairmen and witnesses also discussed prior DOE appropriations and new program funding levels without agreement on a single number the subcommittee should treat as the baseline for lab investments.

Witnesses said the pause has practical impacts beyond immediate payroll. Budil described a grid‑resilience test bed, Skyfall, used to model cyber‑physical grid events and train workforce; she said the paused $7 million supported utilities and private‑sector partners that rely on that unique infrastructure. Kearns told members that suspended awards represent researcher time and interrupted experimental schedules that could slow equipment upgrades such as supercomputer work and facility modernization.

Several members asked whether the pause was legally permissible and whether it might be permanent. Directors answered that their labs act under DOE direction; John Wagner and others said decisions about releasing material or modifying contracts were matters for DOE and the contracting officer. Witnesses repeatedly said they must follow DOE orders and contract requirements and that changes to those orders would require contracting‑officer direction.

Discussion points for the committee included the operational effect on projects supporting private‑sector demonstrations, workforce training, grid‑resilience testing, and advanced computing. Members asked for written follow‑up on how much of the IIJA and IRA supplemental appropriations flowed to the national laboratories and for lab‑specific lists of suspended awards. Several directors said they would provide or already were preparing that information for the committee record.

The hearing produced no formal votes. The subcommittee kept the record open for additional questions and materials.