Time appears to have run out on the nomination of Matthew Moury to be a member of the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board.
As of Jan. 3, the nomination to the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB) was officially returned by the Senate to President Donald Trump after the nomination never advanced to the full Senate before Congress adjourned after Christmas.
The formal Senate notice cited a rule about returning nominations to the White House that have not been acted upon before the congressional recess.
The Trump administration submitted the nomination of Moury, a Department of Energy associate undersecretary for environment, health, safety and security and former DNFSB senior staffer, to the Senate Armed Service Committee in July. But the Armed Services panel never held a hearing on his nomination and it did not advance to the full Senate for a vote.
The new 117th Congress convened this week to among, other things, act upon the certification of the November election of former vice president Joe Biden to succeed Trump. The Biden inauguration is scheduled for Jan. 20. The new Congress cannot act on nominations from the old session.
The DNFSB was created by Congress in 1988 to provide independent advice and recommendations to the secretary of energy regarding public health and safety at the defense nuclear facilities run by DOE. It has no outright regulatory authority but can submit recommendations to DOE, which the secretary must reply to publicly.
The board, which has five slots, requires members of both parties and it is conceivable that Biden could re-submit Moury’s name to be one of the GOP members. The three current board members are Republican appointee and Acting Chair Thomas Summers along with Democratic Party appointees Joyce Connery and Jessie Hill Roberson. The three respective terms expire on Oct. 18 of 2025, 2024, and 2023. DNFSB may only have three members who belong to the same political party.
