President-elect Trump’s pick to lead the Energy Department, former Texas Gov. Rick Perry, will be one of the last major Cabinet nominees to face congressional scrutiny before Trump is sworn in as president on Jan. 20.
The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee will hold Perry’s confirmation hearing next Thursday, the panel announced Thursday. Committee aides said the goal is to get Trump’s Cabinet nominees through the confirmation hearing process before the inauguration, even if it’s just 24 hours beforehand.
Some lawmakers are suggesting that it may be possible to have the heads of the agencies confirmed by the beginning of next month.
Perry’s session will mark the end of a slew of confirmation hearings that began this week and will continue until next Thursday. The Senate energy committee will begin next week’s hearings on Tuesday with Trump’s pick to head the Interior Department, Rep. Ryan Zinke.
On Wednesday, the Environment and Public Works Committee will hold a confirmation hearing for Trump’s nominee to head the Environmental Protection Agency, Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt, despite attempts by Democrats on the committee to stall the hearing.
The environment committee’s top Democrat, Sen. Tom Carper of Delaware, will hold a rally later Thursday with other committee Democrats to pressure the GOP to insist that Pruitt respect the science of climate change.
Pruitt is part of a major lawsuit opposing the EPA’s climate rules to reduce carbon pollution from the utility industry, and repealing the regulations is a major part of Trump’s first 100-day agenda.
