Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) on Thursday filed a procedural motion to limit further debate on Christopher Hanson’s nomination to serve five more years at the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
When the Senate returns to Washington on June 3, lawmakers will vote at 5:30 p.m. Eastern time on the petition to invoke what is formally known as cloture, cutoff of debate, on Hanson’s nomination.
If the Senate invokes cloture, which requires a three-fifths majority of 60 Senators, Hanson’s nomination will come up for a final vote at some later date. Cloture usually limits further debate to 36 hours. Democrats effectively have a 51-49 majority in the chamber.
Hanson had strong bipartisan support in the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, which in early May approved his renomination in a near-unanimous, bipartisan vote.
If reconfirmed by the full Senate, Hanson would serve another five years at the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, which he currently chairs. His new term would expire June 29, 2029. His current term expires this June 29, giving Senators more than enough time to get him reinstalled at NRC.
If Hanson makes it back to the NRC, the commission will continue with four members, two Democrat and two Republican. The agency has a statutory maximum of five but has been shorthanded since the Senate elected not to vote on Jeffrey Baran’s renomination earlier this year.
