GOP senator puts hold on Trump energy nominee

Republican Sen. John Barrasso (Wyo.) is placing a hold on President Trump’s nominee to oversee the Department of Energy’s environmental cleanup programs.

Barrasso said during a confirmation hearing with the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee last Thursday that he was placing a hold on Anne White’s nomination until the Energy Department committed to ending its process of re-selling excess government-owned uranium on the market. Barrasso said the process hurts his state’s uranium mining industry.

The Energy Department frequently sells excess uranium it owns in order to finance cleanup operations and decommission nuclear sites.

{mosads}”You were unable to give me a firm commitment to immediately halt these barters, something that [Energy Secretary Rick] Perry has told me he wants to do. So for this reason, I am unable to support a confirmation at this time and withhold the confirmation until the department ends its practice of bartering excess uranium,” Barrasso told White during the hearing.

“I think it’s preserving good-paying uranium jobs and uranium security in America.”

The hold could keep the nomination from proceeding to a vote. The Energy and Natural Resources Committee is slated to vote on White’s nomination Tuesday.

The Energy Department did not return requests for comment.

Barrasso was the only Republican to speak out against White. According to a Democratic staffer on the committee, White is considered a “non-controversial” Trump nomination. According to the staffer, the only Democrat expected to vote against White is Sen. Ron Wyden (Ore.).

Other Trump nominees may also be facing setbacks at the same hearing Tuesday.

Sen. Bill Nelson (D-Fla.) said earlier this month that he is placing holds on three pending Interior Department nominees following Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke’s announcement that he may lease offshore drilling sites for oil and gas off the coast of Florida. Nelson said he won’t release those holds until Zinke rescinds the draft five-year drilling plan published in the Federal Register on Jan. 8.

Those votes are also schedule for Tuesday.