Senate Confirms Slate of Stalled Science Nominees

The Senate voted to confirm dozens of President Donald Trump’s nominees — including several in top science roles — on Thursday, clearing a months-long backlog.

The bloc of nearly 50 nominees, whose confirmation passed by a vote of 51 to 47 along party lines, included Darío Gil to be under secretary of science at the Department of Energy.

Gil’s appointment was announced by President Trump back in January, and his nomination was reported out favorably by the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee following a hearing in April. Gil, who is director of research at IBM, stepped down from leading the National Science Board earlier this year in anticipation of his appointment to DOE.

Like many other Trump nominees, however, Gil’s confirmation stalled for months amid infighting in the Senate, prompting the Energy Sciences Coalition to write to Senate leaders urging them to prioritize Gil’s confirmation “as soon as possible.”

Typically, the Senate votes to confirm political appointees individually, but Republican leaders made the unilateral decision this month to change the chamber’s rules to allow some types of nominees to be voted on in blocs, bypassing Democrats’ efforts to slow the confirmation process for all Trump nominees. Republicans’ deployment of this so-called “nuclear option” drew criticism from Democrats, including Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), who said it would turn the chamber into a “conveyor belt for unqualified Trump nominees.”

“Make no mistake. This move by Republicans was not so much about ending obstruction, as they claim; rather, it was another act of genuflection to the executive branch,” Schumer said on the Senate floor earlier this week.

According to a tracker maintained by the Partnership for Public Service and The Washington Post, 171 of President Donald Trump’s political appointees have now been confirmed by the Senate, and 210 are pending Senate confirmation. The Trump administration has yet to nominate candidates for 288 roles, including leaders at NASA, NSF, DOE’s Office of Science, and NIST, according to the tracker.

Other DOE nominees approved en masse this week include: Theodore Garrish to lead the Office of Nuclear Energy, Kyle Haustveit to lead the Office of Fossil Energy, and Conner Prochaska to be director of the Advanced Research Projects Agency–Energy. Garrish’s appointment was welcomed by the American Nuclear Society, with CEO Craig Piercy stating that he expects Garrish will “carry on the bipartisan tradition of advancing nuclear energy’s critical role in deploying advanced reactors and securing abundant, reliable, and emissions-free nuclear energy.”

Brandon Williams was confirmed as the head of DOE’s National Nuclear Security Administration, along with Scott Pappano as his deputy and Matthew Napoli leading its nonproliferation programs.

Andrea Travnicek was approved to be assistant secretary for water and science at the Department of the Interior, and John Squires was confirmed to lead the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.

Also this week, the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee held a nomination hearing with Ethan Klein, Trump’s nominee to be chief technology officer and associate director for technology at the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy. Klein has received the support of organizations such as the Foundation for American Innovation for his technology expertise and previous experience working at OSTP as a policy advisor during the first Trump administration. In his testimony, Klein expressed his desire to remove “unnecessary barriers to innovation” and establish new models for public-private partnerships.

Just before Klein’s hearing, Senators on the Commerce committee voted for a second time, 20 to eight, to advance Neil Jacobs’ nomination to lead the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The committee previously advanced Jacobs’ nomination via a voice vote, but Republicans’ changes to nomination rules necessitated a roll-call vote.

Several nominees for key science positions, including Ned Mamula to be director of the U.S. Geological Survey, are still awaiting a final vote.