Most of President Donald Trump’s picks to be leaders in the Department of Energy nuclear complex were finally confirmed Thursday 51-47, some after waiting on the bench since May after being voted through at the committee level.
The nuclear weapons complex nominees confirmed en bloc this week are:
- Brandon Williams, the nominee to head DOE’s National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA).
- Ted Garrish, the nominee to head DOE’s Office of Nuclear Energy.
- Scott Pappano, the nominee to be principal deputy administrator at NNSA, or the position just below the head of the agency.
- Matt Napoli, the nominee to be the deputy administrator for Defense Nuclear Nonproliferation at NNSA.
Not on this list is Tim Walsh, Trump’s nominee to head the DOE’s Office of Environmental Management. Walsh, a combat veteran and Colorado real estate investor, was nominated in March and cleared committee in July but awaits a Senate vote.
Last week, ranking member of both the Senate Appropriations Committee and the Energy and Water subcommittee Patty Murray (D-Wash.) placed a hold on Walsh’s nomination due to what she deemed Secretary of Energy Chris Wright’s “stalling” starting up glass making at the Hanford Site.
On Wednesday evening, however, DOE announced issuance of Critical Decision-4, a key last step in approving operations at the Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant. There was no word Thursday on whether Murray might now lift the hold.