Moniz pushed humor wherever he could slip it in. | M.Scott Mahaskey/POLITICO Moniz engages House panel

President Barack Obama’s new energy secretary has a deep science background and easy political charm that helped him sail through his confirmation. So it wasn’t a surprise that during his first House committee hearing Thursday, his demeanor implied a confident air that said, “I got this.”

The former Massachusetts Institute of Technology physics professor, Ernest Moniz, appeared to be enjoying himself as he fielded questions about the administration’s proposed 2014 DOE budget at a hearing of a House Energy and Commerce subcommittee, only occasionally sidestepping questions by citing his short time on the job but not backing down from a few pointed policy queries from conservatives.


And unlike his predecessor, Steven Chu, whose academic bearing often made him appear less than comfortable in the political arena, Moniz’s previous stint at the Energy Department — and frequent trips to Capitol Hill — seems to be serving him well so far.

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“The difference between Chu and Moniz is like night and day,” Rep. Ed Whitfield (R-Ky.) told POLITICO after the hearing. Moniz was confirmed by the Senate, 97-0, like Chu, but Whitfield said, “They didn’t know him, but they know Moniz.”

“I think he’s much better than Secretary Chu, myself,” he added later with reporters. “I think he’s more knowledgeable. I think he has a more practical approach to the political arena.”

Moniz also pushed humor wherever he could slip it in — a tendency that Chu seemed to avoid, especially after the Solyndra debacle consumed his appearances on Capitol Hill.

Former Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Joe Barton (R-Texas) referred to Moniz’s time at DOE during Bill Clinton’s presidency and said he would be a “decent representative for the administration.”

Taking the bait, Moniz replied by asking whether “decent” was a good word, drawing laughs from the audience and lawmakers alike.

“‘Decent’ is good,” Barton said. “There are other D-words that I could use that are not good. But ‘decent’ is good.”

It’s standard practice for officials testifying before a congressional committee to do a bit of meet-and-greet to get things kicked off on a nice foot. Moniz made sure to follow protocol, delaying the start time for the hearing by a few minutes.

Moniz dodged a few detailed questions related to the myriad DOE programs by reminding lawmakers that he has been on the job for less than a month. But overall, he was well-received even amid a few tense exchanges.

Rep. David McKinley (R-W.Va.) probed Moniz on his stance that a major driver of climate change is man-made emissions, but Moniz stood firm on the science.

“First of all, the rise of CO2 in the last half-century is clearly tracked to our global increased energy use. Secondly, I know how to count. I can count how many CO2 molecules have gone out from fossil fuel combustion, and I know how many additional CO2 molecules are in the atmosphere,” he said.

And he said he wasn’t relying on a consensus among scientists — though he estimated that 98 percent of scientists agreed — but rather that his judgment “is based on numbers, on data.”

Moniz suggested a follow-up meeting where the two could delve into the topic and later told reporters he found the exchange with McKinley “encouraging” because “there was actually a dialogue.”

That equanimity may be tested in the coming months and years with the White House expected to begin to roll out its plans to address climate change.

And Moniz not only has to push the president’s energy agenda but also must set his own priorities to reshape the massive bureaucracy at DOE. And with his experience, there’s a sense that he knows the agency’s weaknesses as well as its strengths.

On Thursday, he announced plans to reconfigure day-to-day oversight procedures at DOE and consolidate its policy operations. He also said he’d formed an internal advisory council to better connect the agency’s cybersecurity concerns.

DOE also has plans to split its office of policy and international affairs into two programs.

On top of that, agency leadership is more than half-empty.

At least eight senior leadership positions that require Senate confirmation are vacant, some of which have been empty for years. All three undersecretary positions are vacant, as well as the heads of DOE’s offices of science, fossil energy, environmental management, policy and international affairs and the popular Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy.

It’s also been rumored that Deputy Secretary Dan Poneman plans to depart but has stayed to help with the transition of energy secretaries.

Moniz said he’s hoping that announcements about nominees for DOE leadership will start by late summer.