President Trump officially listed those who will be serving on his Cabinet Wednesday, including his pick to lead the Environmental Protection Agency, who is facing a bruising confirmation fight.
The listing shows Trump is confident that Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt will be confirmed as the next head of the EPA, despite Democrats’ attempts to block his confirmation and ongoing lobbying by environmental groups and former EPA administrators to convince Republicans not to send Pruitt to the agency.
Democrats argue that his lawsuits against the agency shows he is the wrong pick to lead the EPA in its mission to protect public health. Democrats attempted to boycott a committee vote on his confirmation recently by not showing up. Under committee rules, at least one Democrat must be present to vote on a nominee.
The GOP pushed through the nomination by suspending the rules, voting to confirm Pruitt 11-0 in the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee.
A vote on Pruitt’s nomination by the full Senate is likely to come as soon as Tuesday.
“President Donald J. Trump today formally announced the 24 people who will be serving with him on his Cabinet,” the White House said.
Also on the list of Cabinet officials are Trump’s picks to lead the departments of Interior and Energy, Rep. Ryan Zinke, R-Mont., and former Republican Texas Gov. Rick Perry, respectively.
At the same time, Trump is reportedly seeking to beef up his ranks of energy policy advisers at the White House.
Trump is expected to add Mike Catanzaro, a former Republican staffer and energy lobbyist, to serve on the White House’s National Economic Council to advise him on domestic energy policy.
George David Banks, the executive vice president for the free-market think tank American Council for Capital Formation, is also being considered by Trump to join the National Security Council as an energy adviser, according to several reports.
Banks was a climate change adviser under former President George W. Bush. He also received an award from the Obama administration for his work on climate change diplomacy.
Banks, however, has been a skeptic of climate regulations, specifically the implementation of a national carbon tax.
In an op-ed published in September in the Wall Street Journal, Banks said Republican opposition to the idea on Capitol Hill would make it impossible to enact even if Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton won the election in November.
“America is unlikely to adopt a formal price on carbon during the next administration,” Banks wrote. “Washington academics and New York traders should accept the political reality that GOP opposition won’t be overcome by a Clinton presidency. Furthermore, regulation of manufacturing represents the Achilles’ heel of the climate agenda.”
