The U.S. Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee on Tuesday approved the nomination of David Jonas to be Department of Energy general counsel by a 14-9 vote.
The roll-call vote split almost entirely along party lines, with only Sens. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) Angus King (I-Vt.) breaking ranks with the Democrats to support Jonas’ nomination. There was no discussion of the nomination before or after the vote.
Jonas is currently a partner at the Fluet, Huber & Hoang law firm in Virginia. The Marine Corps veteran previously served as general counsel for both DOE’s semiautonomous National Nuclear Security Administration and the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board. He left the latter position after raising concerns in 2014 about the work environment at the DNFSB General Counsel’s Office and the conduct of then-board Chairman Peter Winokur.
The Senate panel also approved Trump administration nominees to two positions within the Interior Department and two nominees to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.
Jonas now joins two other DOE nominees waiting for confirmation votes from the full Senate: Mark Wesley Menezes, a lobbyist for Berkshire Hathaway Energy, to be undersecretary for the Department of Energy; Paul Dabbar of J.P. Morgan to be DOE’s undersecretary for science.
The only confirmed political appointees to DOE to date are Energy Secretary Rick Perry and Deputy Energy Secretary Dan Brouillette. The administration has yet to submit any nominees for a number of positions at DOE and other Cabinet agencies, including assistant energy secretary for environmental management and administrator for the National Nuclear Security Administration.
