-=The Senate Energy & Natural Resources Committee Wednesday morning in an 11-to-nine vote advanced the nomination of Tim Walsh to head the Department of Energy’s $8-billion Office of Environmental Management.
Ranking member Sen. Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) led the committee Democrats in voting against Walsh and two other nominees, in an identical partisan split in something of a protest vote.
“Until this administration respects the will of congress,” Heinrich said he was inclined to vote against upcoming nominees from President Donald Trump.
Heinrich prefaced his remarks by saying during the first Trump administration he would have voted in favor of both Walsh and the other two nominees. But the New Mexico Democrat said he has soured upon the current crop of Trump nominees closing offices and taking actions against congressional intent.
“We have had nominee after nominee come before this committee and assure us they would follow the law and respect the will of congress,” Heinrich said. Once they take office it has been a different story. A link to Heinrich’s statement is available here.
The other two nominees advanced by the committee at the same hearing were Lanny Erdos to be the Department of the Interior’s director of the Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement and Audrey Robertson to be DOE’s assistant secretary of energy for energy efficiency and renewable energy.
David Eisner has withdrawn his nomination to be assistant secretary of energy for international affairs.
For his part, Senate Energy Chair Senator Mike Lee (R-Utah), expressed irritation by partisan wrangling by Democrats. Nominees are endorsed by Senate committees only to face “stall and delay tactics when we get to the Senate floor.” Only five of the 21 nominees advanced by the committee have thus far received an up-or-down vote by the full Senate, Lee said.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) is said to be considering a change to Senate rules that might speed the pace of floor votes, CBS News reported.
Walsh’s nomination can now conceivably advance to the Senate floor although no vote had been scheduled as of Thursday afternoon. Anne Marie White was the last Senate-confirmed head of environmental management. After being confirmed in the first Trump administration in March 2018, she resigned under pressure roughly 14 months later. William (Ike) White served out the role of EM-1 for the rest of the first Trump term and most of the four-year Joe Biden administration.
After being nominated by Trump in March, Walsh, a former Army commander and successful real estate developer in Colorado, testified before the Senate panel in early July.
“The Manhattan Project’s rapid development helped end WWII, and subsequent nuclear research contributed to preventing further use of nuclear weapons,” Walsh said in his testimony. It is now our duty to address legacy waste and ensure a safe, secure, and clean environment for all Americans.”