U.S. Sen. Martin Heinrich’s stance on Rick Perry as head of the U.S. Department of Energy hasn’t changed in recent weeks.
When Donald Trump announced Perry as his pick to head the department late last year, Heinrich called the former Texas governor “uniquely unqualified.”
Tuesday, Heinrich voted against confirming Perry in the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee.
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So far, Heinrich has only supported one of Trump’s nominees: James Mattis, who was confirmed as Secretary of Defense on a 98-1 vote earlier this year.
NM Political Report has been tracking the votes and positions by Heinrich and his colleague Tom Udall.
Perry cleared the committee on a 17-6 vote.
“I appreciate Governor Perry’s responsiveness and acknowledge that this nominee will move forward and that I want – and we all need – him to be successful,” Heinrich said in a statement Tuesday. “But his past statements on eliminating the Department, an unwillingness to commit to the applied energy research and climate science done at our national labs and universities, and the transition team questionnaire that attacked the integrity of climate scientists all signal where the Trump Administration is headed.”
Heinrich noted that tens of thousands of New Mexicans are involved in Department of Energy missions, largely at Sandia National Labs and Los Alamos National Labs.
“With 25,000 New Mexicans contributing to these important Department of Energy missions, we cannot have any doubts about a nominee’s willingness or ability to defend the agency and its work.”
