WASHINGTON, DC - Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Greg Walden (R-OR), Energy Subcommittee Chairman Fred Upton (R-MI), and Environment Subcommittee Chairman John Shimkus (R-IL), today issued the following statement after the U.S. Senate voted to confirm former Texas Governor Rick Perry as Secretary of Energy.
“As the former governor of a state that is not only economically robust and energy rich, but also hosts critical nuclear security operations, Secretary Perry is uniquely suited to head the Department of Energy," said Walden, Upton, and Shimkus. “He understands the urgency of focusing the agency on core functions, which include the cost-effective execution of its nuclear and energy security missions as well as the responsibility to manage and dispose of the nation’s nuclear waste and spent nuclear fuel. He also understands our nation’s dynamic marketplace has produced a new era of energy abundance and innovation that is changing what the nation will require of the department going forward. We look forward to working with Secretary Perry to ensure DOE’s missions reflect marketplace and security realities of the 21st Century."
