Congress Adjourns Without Voting on Choice to Head Cleanup Program
Mike Nartker
WC Monitor
12/19/2014
Monica Regalbuto’s nomination to serve as the next Assistant Secretary of Energy for Environmental Management has been returned to the White House after Congress adjourned this week without the Senate holding a vote. Regalbuto was one of three pending DOE nominees the Senate chose not to vote on this week, along with the White House’s choices to serve as head of the Department’s Office of Science and as Assistant Secretary for International Affairs. As a result of the Senate’s lack of action, Regalbuto will need to be renominated by the White House next year and again be cleared by committee before the new Republican-controlled Senate could hold a new vote on her nomination. DOE did not respond to a request for comment this week on the lack of action on Regalbuto’s nomination.
Regalbuto was nominated by the Obama Administration this spring to fill the vacancy left when Ines Triay stepped down as Assistant EM Secretary in July 2011. Since then, the position has been filled in an acting capacity, first by David Huizenga and then beginning in July by Mark Whitney, who also serves as EM Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary. At the time of her nomination, Regalbuto had been serving as Deputy Assistant Secretary of Energy for Fuel Cycle Technologies in DOE’s Office of Nuclear Energy. However, she has since moved to take a senior management role in EM, and now serves as Associate Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary.
Regalbuto had largely been seen as an uncontroversial choice to head up DOE’s cleanup program, and sailed through a hearing the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee held to consider her nomination in June. However, her nomination hit a roadblock this fall, when she was subjected to a hold by Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) over concerns with the Department’s transfers of uranium to help fund cleanup and other activities. The hold prevented the Senate from easily approving Regalbuto’s nomination by unanimous consent. Earlier this month, Barrasso lifted his hold on Regalbuto after receiving sought-after information from DOE on its uranium transfer policy, but the Senate ultimately chose not to vote on her nomination.
