PhotoWASHINGTON — The Senate confirmed Rick Perry on Thursday as the head of the Energy Department, an agency he had once pledged as a presidential candidate to eliminate. In his confirmation hearing, Mr. Perry told senators that he regretted his call in the 2012 campaign to eliminate the agency. People close to Mr. Perry said that at the time he had believed that the Energy Department was largely focused on developing and promoting the nation’s energy resources. At his January confirmation hearing, Mr. Perry told the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee that after “being briefed on so many of the vital functions of the Department of Energy,” he now supported its mission. The agency does play some role in the nation’s energy policy: Its laboratories conduct research into energy technologies that could help fight climate change.

Source: New York Times March 02, 2017 19:24 UTC