President Donald Trump’s picks to lead the Department of Energy, Department of the Interior and the Environmental Protection Agency will be taken up in the full Senate after committees Thursday approved the three nominations with support from Wyoming’s senators.
Sen. John Barrasso, R-Wyoming, joined fellow Republicans and most Democrats on the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee in voting for Doug Burgum for Interior secretary and Chris Wright for Energy secretary.
Burgum was cleared on an 18-2 vote, while Wright’s approval was 15-5.
Earlier Thursday in the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, Sen. Cynthia Lummis, R-Wyoming, voted for Lee Zeldin to head the EPA. He was OK’d on a tally of 11-8.
Neither Barrasso nor Lummis spoke at Thursday’s meetings, which followed long hearings last week on the nominees.
Those hearings — and Thursday’s brief meetings — highlighted broad policy differences between the parties but were largely cordial.
The sessions were devoid of fireworks like in the hearing for Pete Hegseth to lead the Pentagon, and also a marked contrast to the heated battle on the Senate floor this week over how quickly the full Senate will hold votes on Hegseth and some other nominees who have cleared committees.
After calling out the “shameful” attempts by Democrats to drag out approval of the nominees in the full Senate on Wednesday, Barrasso said Thursday he expects quick action on some of these other nominees.
“Lee Zeldin represents a new era of clear rules and common sense,” he said about the EPA pick on X (formerly Twitter). “He will correct the course of the EPA. The Senate will quickly vote to confirm him.”
Lummis also praised Zeldin and said he has a lot of damage to undo left from the Biden administration.
“After four years of disastrous environmental policy, Lee Zeldin will restore common sense and prosperity back out West,” she posted to X. “The Golden Age of America begins now!”
Dems Vote For Them, Too
Sen. Martin Heinrich of New Mexico, the top Democrat on the Energy and Natural Resources Committee, voted Thursday in favor of sending Burgum’s and Wright’s nominations to the full Senate.
He called both candidates “well qualified,” though he criticized their heavily pro-fossil fuel views, saying neither nominee takes climate change seriously enough.
Sen. Alex Padilla, D-California, voted for Burgum but not Wright. Padilla, whose state has been plagued by wildfires for weeks, complained that Wright has made statements calling the link between climate change and wildfires “hype.”
If confirmed by the full Senate, Burgum, Wright and Zeldin would influence policies bearing on key Wyoming industries and Wyomingites’ way of life — air and water regulations, wildlife rules and federal-land leases for grazing and energy production, to name a few.
Those policies variously affect ranching, coal mining, oil and gas exploration, hunting, fishing and many other issues like wind power, a growing business in Wyoming but a punching bag for Trump and the state’s legacy energy industries.
Another key Cabinet post with major implications for Wyoming is the head of the Agriculture Department.
Trump’s choice for that post is Brooke Rollins, whose nomination hearing was held Thursday by the Senate Agriculture Committee.
Rollins is a native Texan with an FFA background who earned degrees in agricultural science and law.
As for full Senate approval of the picks, Barrasso reiterated Thursday that efforts to slow down or sandbag the process “won’t work.”
“It’s Day 4 of the Trump administration, and already Democrats are delaying getting his Cabinet into place,” he tweeted Thursday. “It won’t work. Senate Republicans will work around the clock and through the weekend to get it done.”
