Fine, but do you know what the Department of Energy actually does - where it's real money actually goes?
Answer, very little of DOE's money goes to [wasted] energy programs because mostly what DOE does is nuclear weapons. It is the civilian agency heir to the atomic energy commission. That part is not well-managed either, but DOE does not do what you or Sarah Palin think it does.
And no serious person cognizant of the DOD acquisition scandal thinks that moving this function to DOD would be a cost saving efficiency.
The problem is not actually that the federal agencies don't have legitimate and necessary functions and missions. The problem is that they do them all uniformly badly. The termites have rotted out the foundations of the government everywhere, and the rats are in the granaries eating the seed corn. Democrats and Republicans have shared equally in the despoliation of the commons.
All good intentions... till the 17th Amendment is repealed the construct for a massive federal government will remain... The 17th Amendment is the framework for what we have now...a large non-functional central government run by the Uni-party.
The 16th Amendment fuels its growth from the hard work of the “little guy” taxpayer.
Till either both or one of those Amendments are repealed... we, as a country live in a failing democracy, not a Republic... democracies never end well per history.
I agree there are some functions of DOE that are worthwhile and need to be kept alive. These probably represent a small chunk of the agency’s budget.