US Senate panel to hold hearings on Donald Trump energy picks next week

The US Senate energy committee will hold nomination hearings for President-elect Donald Trump's picks for energy roles on Tuesday and Wednesday next week, the panel's chairman Senator Mike Lee said on Thursday. 

The committee will hold a hearing to consider Doug Burgum, Trump's nominee to be secretary of the interior, on Tuesday, Jan. 14 at 10 a.m. (1500 GMT). Burgum was until last month the governor of North Dakota, a big oil-producing state. 

Burgum is also expected to head a new National Energy Council to coordinate policies to boost US energy production. 

The committee will hold a hearing for Chris Wright, the pick for energy secretary, a day later at the same time. Wright, CEO and chairman of the board of Liberty Energy, plans to step down from that role when confirmed as secretary. 

The candidates are expected to be confirmed by the Senate, now controlled by Trump's fellow Republicans, as they only require a majority to be confirmed. They are expected to carry out Trump's policies to boost production of oil and gas and rein in President Joe Biden's rules and regulations on climate change. 

Senator Martin Heinrich, top Democrat on the committee, complained that Lee issued the notices without having received information required by law. 

Heinrich said he was "extremely disappointed" that Lee announced the hearings without having received information from nominees required by law, including a completed FBI background check and financial report. 

"As members of the US Senate, we have a solemn obligation to fulfill our constitutional duties to advise and consent to these nominees," Heinrich said. "That cannot happen without the information necessary to properly consider these nominees." 

Lee's office did not immediately respond to a request for comment. 

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