WASHINGTON _ The Senate easily confirmed Rick Perry as President Donald Trump's energy secretary Thursday, six years after the former Texas governor famously promised to eliminate the agency he will now lead.
The Senate voted 62-37 in favor of Perry's nomination. The comfortable margin highlighted the general lack of rancor surrounding Perry's nomination _ even as partisan divides over other members of Trump's Cabinet pushed back his confirmation.
All Republicans backed Perry. Ten Democrats and one independent also voted for the Texan, including Sen. Tom Carper of Delaware, Sen. Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota and Sen. Claire McCaskill of Missouri.
Before the vote, supporters pointed to Perry's tenure of leading a major energy state to champion him for the job. But the agency's name is a bit of a misnomer, with its responsibilities focusing on nuclear stockpiles, environmental cleanup and all manner of scientific research.
California Sen. Dianne Feinstein, a Democrat who voted against Perry, emphasized that his credentials don't align with the agency's goals.
"Though every energy secretary doesn't need to be a brilliant physicist to succeed, the Energy Department deserves a chief executive who genuinely cares about shaping our nation's energy policy and overseeing our nuclear arsenal," she wrote in a statement. "Gov. Perry has not shown the knowledge or commitment to fulfill these vital roles."
Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski, from Alaska, came to Perry's defense.
"You don't necessarily need to have a scientist in order to lead scientists," she said in a speech on the Senate floor early Thursday. "You need to have somebody who is a good, strong, competent and capable manager, and that's what Gov. Perry has demonstrated."
During his confirmation process, the Texan had to address upfront his past disregard for the department.
Perry proposed getting rid of the agency when he was a presidential candidate in 2011. That stance was etched into political lore when the he couldn't remember at a GOP primary debate that the agency was on his chopping block, summing up the moment with a brutal "oops."
"My past statements made over five years ago about abolishing the Department of Energy do not reflect my current thinking," Perry said in January, offering his regrets.
Texas Democrats and some environmentalist have nonetheless voiced deep concerns _ citing, for instance, Perry's longstanding ties to the oil and gas business. And some liberal senators pressed the Texan on his climate change views and other topics.
"A better thing would be for you to say right now that you recognize that we have a global crisis," Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders said in one testy exchange.
But the Texan has sought to blunt those concerns, casting himself as someone who will be a fierce advocate for the agency.
He vowed to visit all 17 national laboratories. He stressed the fundamental need to maintain "American leadership in the area of scientific inquiry." And he offered some assurances that he would defend the agency from budget cuts and other interference.
"I'm not going to tell you that I'm going to be 1,000 percent successful in that," Perry said in January. "But people who know me ... know my commitment to making sound science, economic science connected together."
