Amid stark partisan resistance, Democrats mount final push to confirm Biden’s NRC nominee 

In the face of what so far has been united Republican opposition, Senate Democrats have teed up a vote, which must be bipartisan to succeed, on Matthew Marzano’s nomination to join the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. 

In a procedural move Tuesday, Majority Leader Sen. Charles Schuember (D-N.Y.) filed cloture on the nomination, meaning that in two days, if 60 Senators agree, the Senate could hold a floor vote in which Democrats and their allies alone could confirm Marzano for a five-year term on the NRC.

Counting independents who caucus with them, the Senate’s lame-duck Democratic majority can muster only 51 votes. That means Marzano needs nine Republican votes to get to the floor, where a simple majority could install him on the commission.

So far in his nomination process, Marzano has not gotten even one Republican vote. 

If confirmed, and pending future resignations, Marzano would cement a 3-5 majority of Democratic appointees at the NRC until June 30, 2027, when Commission Bradley Crowell’s term expires. That would be more than three years into President-elect Donald Trump’s (R) second four-year term. Marzano himself would serve a term that runs through June 30, 2028.

After a generally cordial nomination hearing before November’s presidential election, Republicans on the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee universally opposed Marzano’s nomination after the election, saying he lacked experience and that the experience he had made him better suited to following regulations than making them.

If confirmed, Marzano would be the first licensed senior reactor operator to serve on the NRC in more than two decades. Republicans on the Environment and Public Works Committee said that is not enough and contrasted Marzano’s background with current commissioners, most of whom had some legal or policy-making experience prior to joining the NRC.