Perry says he regrets 2011 call to abolish Energy Department
WASHINGTON — Rick Perry, the former Texas governor and President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee as energy secretary, said in his Senate confifirmation hearing Thursday that he regretted having recommended the abolition of the Energy Department during his fifirst presidential bid.
He addressed his awkward history upfront, telling the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee that after “being briefed on so many of the vital functions of the Department of Energy,” he no longer believed, as he said while running for president in 2011, that it should be eliminated.
Perry also offffffffffffered a fullthroated reversal of his views on the science of humanc a u s e d c l i mat e c h a n g e , which he called a “contrived, phony mess” in a 2010 book.
“I believe some of it is naturally occurring, but some of it is also caused by man-made activity,” he said. “The question is: How do we address it in a thoughtful way that doesn’t compromise economic growth, the affffffffffffordability of energy, or Ameri- can jobs?”
Trump, by contrast, has c a l l e d c l i mate c h a n ge a hoax” and had continued to express doubts about established climate science.
Perry also appeared to signal a somewhat different position from Trump on nuclear weapons policy, the Energy Department’s chief portfolio. Trump has said the United States must “greatly strengthen and expand” its nuclear capability.
But Perry, asked by Sen. Bernie Sanders, the Vermont independent, whether he believed expanded testing of nuclear weapons was a “dangerous idea,” replied, “I think anyone would be of the opinion that if we never have to test another nuclear weapon that would be a good thing for the world.”
Asked if he would support the Iran nuclear deal — which Trump has derided — Perry said he had not received classifified briefifings on it.
If DOE has a role to make sure that Iranians are living up to the deal, message delivered, sir,” Perry told Sen. Al Franken, D-Minn.
L a s t m o n t h , w h e n Trump offered Perry the job of energy secretary, he accepted with the understanding that the role would be largely focused on promoting U.S. energy development, according to people who have briefed him. Only later did he learn that the agency’s central portfolio is the oversight and management of the nation’s nuclear weapons complex.
Perry is expected to be easily confifirmed by the full Senate. But Democrats pressed him sharply on his views on climate science, expressing concern that his past views, so at odds with established mainstream science, could be a serious impediment.
They also pressed him on reports that Trump’s team is considering making cuts to the Energy Department’s offiffices of energy effifficiency, renewable energy and fossil energy.
Perry said he was unaware of such reports.
“Maybe they’ll have the same experience I had and forget that they said that,” he said to laughter.