The Senate is primed this week to confirm David Turk as the deputy secretary of energy after a procedural motion last week to end debate on the former Biden staffer and Obama administration official.
Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.), the majority leader, filed cloture on Turk’s nomination Thursday, meaning the Senate had, starting then, a little more than two legislative days until a mandatory vote to move the nomination to the floor for confirmation.
The Senate had not scheduled the floor vote as of deadline for Weapons Complex Morning Briefing, but Turk and a slew of other nominations were set for votes in the early half of this week, based on the timetable the Democratic majority set in motion last week.
The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee unanimously advanced Turk to the floor on March 11. It was a much less controversial vote than his would-be boss, now-Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm, got from the committee.
Turk, currently deputy executive director of the International Energy Agency, was previously part of the Obama administration’s State and Energy departments. He worked on climate issues and the New Start nuclear arms-control treaty with Russia in the Obama administration. Before Obama was elected, and Biden became Obama’s vice president, Turk was a member of Biden’s Senate staff.
