Inside (the Beltway) Scoop

By: Ellen Kuo
Wednesday, January 22, 2025
Congress Moves Quickly to Hold Hearings for Trump Nominees

President Trump’s nominees for cabinet positions have been meeting with Senators to introduce themselves prior to their hearings before the Senate. Senate committees have also been holding hearings on pending nominations, which include Chris Wright for Secretary of Energy before the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee. Chair Mike Lee began the hearing by saying that Wright’s nomination couldn’t be coming at a more urgent time when energy prices have soared, driving up the cost of everything around it, from housing to heath care to groceries. With the vast responsibilities of the Department of Energy, the agency has the potential to transform our country’s energy future and foster innovation through research and development. Wright called himself a science geek turned tech nerd into a lifelong energy entrepreneur who has a background working on fusion energy at MIT and knowledge of solar energy from his graduate school days at UC Berkeley. As the founder of Liberty Energy, he believes a low energy society is poor, and the mission of his oil, natural gas, and geothermal company is to better human lives through energy. 

Another important hearing with Russ Vought was held to answer Senators’ questions about his suitability for the role of Office of Management and Budget (OMB) director in the second Trump administration. The Chair of the Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee, Rand Paul, said President Biden’s term added $8.4 trillion to the national debt, and the previous Trump administration added $7.8 trillion.  As a bipartisan problem the federal government spending needs to be reigned in since this is the first time in history serving the nation’s debt has come at cost that is more than our nation’s entire defense budget.

Paul emphasized the pivotal role that OMB plays and his support of Vought as an advocate for fiscal sanity and a person who has strategies to decrease excess spending.  Ranking member Gary Peters questioned Vought’s previous role as OMB director under the previous Trump administration, where OMB withheld $214 million that Congress appropriated for security assistance to Ukraine. It was determined that this action was a violation of the Impoundment Control Act. Peters wanted to know if he was confirmed as OMB director again that he would commit to follow the law and not allow OMB to withhold funds from programs Congress has appropriated. Vought committed to upholding the law.