12. Department of Energy and Related Commissions · Notable · Needs Congress
Sunset DOE loan authority and eliminate the Loan Programs Office
Printed page 383 12. Department of Energy and Related Commissions
“Should seek to sunset DOE’s loan authority through Congress and eventually eliminate the Loan Program Office.”
What has happened
- Not started
DOE's loan authority was extended and enlarged, not sunset, and the office was renamed rather than eliminated. P.L. 119-21 section 50403 rewrote Energy Policy Act section 1706, appropriated $1,000,000,000 to it and extended the IRA commitment authority from 2026 to 2028; the Loan Programs Office became the Office of Energy Dominance Financing in the November 2025 realignment and appears on the organization chart of 3 August 2026. A rename is not an elimination (playbook 3b).
Research log
What was searched, and what didn’t count as evidence
Research notes
Requires-Congress ask; Congress moved the other way. No bill to sunset Title 17 authority or abolish the office was found in the 119th Congress bill file.
P.L. 119-74 also appropriates $35,000,000 for administration of the Title 17 Innovative Technology Loan Guarantee Program for FY 2026.
- Action
- eliminate
- Object
- Loan Programs Office (LPO)
- ID
- 973