“There is no such thing as a query she is uniquely certified to function secretary of Vitality," Sen. Gary Peters (D-Mich.) stated forward of the
“There is no such thing as a query she is uniquely certified to function secretary of Vitality,” Sen. Gary Peters (D-Mich.) stated forward of the vote within the Senate. “Because the governor of Michigan, she led our state by an financial disaster. She is aware of methods to cope with multi-faceted challenges and has a documented report of sturdy management.”
Granholm’s nomination handed the Senate on a 64-35 vote.
The vote mirrors a bipartisan vote within the Vitality and Pure Sources Committee, the place solely 4 Republicans opposed her. GOP lawmakers voting towards Granholm have largely stated they had been doing so to protest Biden’s aggressive local weather insurance policies moderately than any objection to Granholm personally.
Democrats have hailed the decide of a media-savvy nationwide determine who memorably addressed the Democratic Nationwide Conference in 2012 and 2016. Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), chair of the Appropriations subcommittee liable for funding DOE, stated in an announcement she might consider nobody higher to guide the company.
“Governor Granholm has spent her profession — each inside and out of doors of public workplace — as a steadfast advocate for clear vitality, and I’ve little doubt she is going to convey the identical ardour to this new function,” she stated.
Granholm led Michigan through the worst of the recession in 2007 and 2008, and she or he touted that have as priceless at her affirmation listening to final month as she appears to assist the auto business transition to an electrical future. She emphasised her need to make use of DOE funds to create jobs in locations which might be dropping them within the transition away from fossil fuels and towards renewable vitality.
“I’m obsessive about creating good-paying jobs in America,” she stated. “I perceive what it is wish to look into the eyes of women and men who’ve misplaced their jobs by no fault of their very own.”
She took pains through the affirmation course of to emphasize the Biden administration wouldn’t depart fossil fuel-producing communities behind because the nation shifts to cleaner vitality sources, vowing to create “a form of SWAT workforce” to assist communities impacted by that transition.
“I can’t inform you how necessary that is to me personally, that we don’t depart individuals behind,” Granholm stated.
Throughout her affirmation listening to, she additionally harassed that fossil gas sources would stay part of the home vitality portfolio through the transition to wash vitality and stated the nation ought to proceed to spend money on carbon seize, utilization, and storage applied sciences.
“If we’re going to get to web carbon zero emissions by 2050, we can not do it with out coal, oil, fuel being a part of the combination,” Granholm stated.
Senate Vitality Chair Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) beforehand praised her nomination, noting the 2 had been governors throughout the identical interval, and he praised how she dealt with the monetary disaster in Michigan.
“Gov. Granholm demonstrated in Michigan the imaginative and prescient and management that the nation must deal with the challenges we now face on the nationwide stage – together with tackling local weather change whereas guaranteeing no employee is left behind and our vitality safety stays uncompromised,” he stated. “We’re very lucky to have such a well-qualified and gifted nominee for the necessary place of Secretary of Vitality.”