Senate votes to confirm former Texas governor Rick Perry as energy secretary

[DonViejo]

Source: The Washington Post



By Steven Mufson March 2 at 2:09 PM

The Senate voted Thursday afternoon to confirm former Texas governor Rick Perry as energy secretary, brushing aside Perry’s one-time vow to abolish the department.

The genial Republican drew less fire from Democrats during his confirmation process than other Trump nominees, but Perry now faces many of the same tough issues over regulations, the department’s activities to slow climate change and potentially deep cuts in manpower and spending.

As Texas governor, Perry presided over a boom in all kinds of energy production, including wind power and shale drilling. Many of his supporters cited that record as evidence that he could help a similarly wide variety of energy interests.

But Perry’s foes criticized his tepid acknowledgment of climate change, his strong ties to his state’s oil and gas industry, and his lack of experience with the department’s main budgetary area, the maintenance of the nation’s nuclear stockpile. And they wondered whether he will be able to protect the department’s national laboratories and other scientific research against those who would slash the budget.

Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp/2017/03/02/senate-votes-to-confirm-former-texas-governor-rick-perry-as-energy-secretary/?pushid=breaking-news_1488482217&tid=notifi_push_breaking-news&utm_term=.2867f4c13c29

[trof]

1. ROFLMAO

[yallerdawg]

2. Why the hell not?

In for a penny, in for a pound!

[niyad]

3. which democrats voted for the "genial" gov goodhair???

[Liberalagogo]

12. Here ya go:

https://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/roll_call_vote_cfm.cfm?congress=115&session=1&vote=00078#position

And the traitors are:

Donnelly - Indiana
Cardin - Maryland
Cortez Masto - Nevada
Heitkamp - North Dakota
Manchin - West Virginia
McCaskill - Missouri
Stabenow - Michigan
Tester - Montana
Udall- New Mexico
Warner - Virginia
King (I) - Maine

Most voted for Carson also.

[niyad]

14. most of that list does not surprise me. traitors all.

[Proud Liberal Dem]

20. Many up for re-election next year in red states

Not great but

[niyad]

24. one can hope.

[LisaM]

27. Debbie Stabenow is not a traitor.

I do hope she's just holding her powder for another vote.

[Wabbajack_]

32. Most are up for reelection next year

[Aristus]

4. Perry later celebrated by shootin' his six-guns in th'air, ridin' nekkid down Main Street

until he got to Madame Deveraux's Hootin' Hollerin' Happy House, when he went upstairs with one o' th' dancin' girls...

[In_The_Wind]

17. 100%

[Aristus]

18. Glad you liked it...

[wcmagumba]

5. Everyone out at Ni**erHead Ranch is cheering...

We'll git us one of them thar nukes and party late on weekends...

[narnian60]

6. Ugh.

Such an idiot.

[geek tragedy]

7. One of Trump's more qualified nominees. nt

[lagomorph777]

8. Not bad for a temp job.

But Ricky and his cronies will all be out on their asses soon enough.

[luvMIdog]

9. It's like Mayberry in the twilight zone- Here Goober here's your deputy badge

[Elwood P Dowd]

23. More like Otis when he gets into the moonshine. (nm)

[dixiegrrrrl]

25. Mayberry in the twilight zone...that is perfect. n/t

[yurbud]

10. I hope they asked him some basic energy questions just for shits & giggles like where solar energy

comes from.

[rzemanfl]

29. He'd say, "From God." n/t

[lapfog_1]

11. What Rick Perry and Donald Trump

and, apparently. the author of this article, need to understand is that the DOE has very LITTLE to do with energy like oil and gas and coal or even new energy like solar and wind and geothermal. Not to say NOTHING to do with it... there is the NREL and some work on other domestic energy production.

But the vast majority of the money spent, the role of the nations DOE labs like Lawrence Livermore and Sandia, Los Alamos, Lawrence Berkeley, Oakridge, Argonne, etc, etc is nuclear research and weapons development and testing.

This is the Manhattan Project from the age of WW2 through the cold war and, more recently, test ban treaty and aging nuclear weapon stockpiles.

I hope they get a clue before they destroy it all.

[karynnj]

13. Moniz to Perry might be the biggest IQ difference between the administrations

President Obama had Secretary Chu, nobel prize winner, and Secretary Moniz, MIT nuclear physics professor. Moniz, working with Kerry, made the nuclear deal possible.

[Solly Mack]

15. Of course it did.

Damn

[hopeforchange2008]

16. I can't believe this isn't a joke

[Javaman]

19. in other news: perry is proven ineffective as his opinion is overruled by tillerson and russia. nt

[gopiscrap]

21. OMG what is the average IQ of that cabinet

[UT_democrat]

22. Was one of the departments Perry wanted to eliminate, right?

that's why he got the job. Bannon basically said that was the criteria for appointments.

[C_U_L8R]

26. 'Hey y'all, what's this button do?'

'Oops'

[JHan]

28. lmao

[The_Casual_Observer]

30. They put idiots in these positions to distroy these agencies

Its a cynical right wing bullshit scheme

[doc03]

31. Doh!

[Vermijelli]

33. The wolves are guarding the hen house

This is crazy.