WASHINGTON — Dan Brouillette, who a few years ago was lobbying for the insurance industry and now is on track to join President Donald Trump’s Cabinet as secretary of energy, cruised Thursday morning through a Senate nomination hearing that briefly crossed wires with presidential impeachment proceedings in the House.
With approval from the Senate, Brouillette would be elevated from his current job as deputy energy secretary to the top spot at the Department of Energy.
Brouillette’s boss, Energy Secretary Rick Perry, has drawn scrutiny from the House Intelligence Committee for helping to facilitate a July phone call between Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
During the call, informed current and former U.S. officials have told the House panel, Trump appeared to condition military aid for Ukraine on an investigation of the son of Joe Biden, former vice president and current Democratic presidential hopeful. The younger Biden once served on the board of a Ukrainian energy company.
In the Senate Energy and Natural Resources nomination hearing Thursday, Ranking Member Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) asked if Brouillette was involved with any conversations Perry had with U.S. and Ukraine officials — and Trump’s personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani — to set up the July phone call.
“I have not been involved with any of the conversations that are related to the House’s inquiry,” Brouillette said.
Nuclear matters occasionally arose during the hearing, with Brouillette promising Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) that cleaning up the Hanford Site in her state remains one of his top priorities. “We are going to continue the mission at Hanford,” he said.
The nominee noted that site cleanup contractxor CH2M Hill Plateau Remediation in September completed transfer of the K-Basin sludge away from the Columbia River. The highly radioactive sludge was moved from underwater storage in the K West Reactor basin and relocated to the T plant for underground storage.
The Energy and Natural Resources Committee had not clearly scheduled a vote on Brouillette’s nomination at publication deadline Friday.
Committee Chariman Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) suggested an expedited proceeding – saying she hopes for a seamless transfer of leadership when Perry officially resigns on Dec. 1. The committee subsequently scheduled a business meeting Nov. 19 to consider pending nominations.
On the floor, even a single senator could block a unanimous consent agreement, and Brouillette drew 17 “no” votes when the full chamber voted on his nomination as deputy secretary in 2017.
Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.) asked Brouillette what he would do to prevent recurrence of shipments of mislabeled radioactive waste being sent to the Nevada National Security Site (NNSS). The nominee responded that the senator’s office was promptly informed when the situation was discovered this summer.
Brouillette also said in July he ordered DOE’s Office of Enterprise Assessments to review past and present waste-packaging-and-shipping programs across the agency’s weapons complex. He told the committee the early draft of the report should be available within 30 to 45 days and will ultimately be made public.
Brouillette had a smooth trip through the Senate, the last time he had to pass muster there. The body confirmed him as deputy secretary on a bipartisan basis: 79-17, with four members, including the then-ailing and now deceased Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), not voting.
Only a single Republican voted against Brouillette as deputy secretary on the floor: Sen. Dean Heller (R-Nev.), who lost a re-election bid in the November 2018 midterms. Strong opposition to permanent nuclear-waste disposal in Nevada routinely turns lawmakers from that state into one-issue voters, when it comes to nuclear matters.
Other than his current job, Brouillette’s most recent federal agency service was during the George W. Bush administration. From 2001 to 2003, he was DOE’s assistant secretary for congressional and intergovernmental affairs.
Brouillette left the department in 2003 to become staff director of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, which has jurisdiction over DOE. Brouillette’s time on the Hill lasted just a year, after which he joined Ford Motor Co. as a senior vice president, then became senior vice president at the United Services Automobile Association.
ExchangeMonitor Reporter Wayne Barber contributed to this article.
