Moniz hopes to find Republican cooperation on government funding for infrastructure when he takes the administration’s case to lawmakers on Tuesday, as well as climate change and Iran, where he’s been a member of the team negotiating a nuclear deal.
“I think key members on both sides of the aisle, from my interactions with them, suggest sometimes a skepticism, but even then, an openness to understanding what the deal is,” Moniz said at a Christian Science Monitor event on Monday. “We’re just going to have to finish a deal, get an agreement and explain it clearly to the public and to Congress, and I am convinced that there will be enough people who are willing to be objective.”The sell might be a tad easier on infrastructure spending.
The administration has asked for billions of dollars in new spending on energy infrastructure projects around the country. While it’s impractical to think Congress might appropriate anything close to that before Obama’s term expires, Moniz said he thinks there could be some areas where Congress is willing to help out.