Test. Test. Test. Senator portman . Thank you. And governor perry, thank you for your willingness to step up and serve again in another way and sacrifices that involves. I enjoyed our meeting. Its one on the couch with my colleague from minnesota. Sure. But it was interesting and we talked about a number of topics. One was the importance to my state and our nation of having a uranium enrichment capability and in ohio, we have a plant that produced enriched uranium until 2000. When president obama ran in 2008, he promised to accelerate that cleanup and just the opposite has happened. Every year, weve had to fight to keep the cleanup in place. Gone from 2024 to 2044 end date. Costing taxpayers by the way, billions more by stretching it out and not being more efficient about it. And im very disappointed in the department of energy for their inability to follow through on their commitments to the plan and frankly, its difficult for people who work there. They never know their next paycheck going to be there. Usually happens around christmas time this past christmas. One question for you, would you be committed to looking at this cleanup effort in a more logical way helping to ensure we have the funds necessary to expedite the cleanup, which, again, provides security to these families but importantly, lowers the cost for the taxpayer by getting this cleanup done . Ill commit to you that i will become as educated on this issue as i can and in the most expeditious way that i can manage it and employ management skills and capabilities. Again, without knowing the deep details of this, but my instinct tells me that this is an issue of execution, of Good Management, of thank you for that. And now put you on the spot here further, secretary moniz committed to come to the site. We never managed to work that out. Id love for you to see that site. It has incredible infrastructure, electricity, and water. It would be a great site for a future plant including a power plant, a Nuclear Power plant. Very supportive. Would you commit to come out yourself to see the Huge Investment that park energy has made in this facility . Senator, i will commit to that and suggest that you know how to get a hold of me if i dont show up on a timely basis for you. Thank you, and second, we started a new Centrifuge Technology project there a few years ago. We were excited about that in late 2015 without any notice, the department of energy shut that down. Unfortunately, they had spent hundreds of millions of dollars of taxpayer money. The centrifuges are still there. Theyre not spending anymore. Theyre going to be sent to the desert which is an enormous waste of taxpayer money. We have to rely on foreigners at a time when we have an increased volatility globally and they can go ahead and enrich uranium and we dont have the ability to do that. My question for you there is, would you be willing to look into this issue and im not going to ask you for a specific commitment today on restarting this because i know you need to research it but i hope youll give this your personal attention and objective consideration because it seems to me we have to have enrichment capabilities in this country. Do you have a response to that . I will give the appropriate and thorough study. In addition, the enrichment of ukraine yewuranium in the unite a National Security issue. I take it seriously, look forward to working with you to not only understand this issue better but if its concluded, as i suspect it will, this is indeed a National Security issue that needs to be addressed either by the United States congress and or the administrati administration, you will have a Willing Department to make sure the d. O. E. Does it in the most economically feasible way. It is a National Security issue. Theres no question about it, not just being reliant on Foreign Countries including russia for uranium but we need it for tritium and for the nuclear navy. We have stockpiles now but not the able to quickly enrich. It probably actakes a decade. Enormous cost to the taxpayers. One last question, we talked about Energy Efficiency in the meeting and i talked about the fact energy voted of taking 22 million cars off the road by 2030. We also passed the entire senate 8212. 8215, as i recall. Both the Ranking Member and the chair have been at the forefront on this issue and id like your commitment to work with us on Energy Efficiency and get the legislation across the line. Thank you, sir. Use me as you see fit. Thank you, madam chair. Thank you, senator portman. Senator duckworth. Thank you, madam chair. Thank you for being here, governor perry. I look forward to your visit to two of the does crown jewels laboratories in illinois. Governor, while i served in iraq, i risked life and limb as did so many brave Young Americans protecting diesel fuel supply lines and i saw firsthand the painful price this nation pays because of the reliance on foreign oil. So for me, investments is not just about the environment, not only about jobs or competing with china, and other nations that are making Huge Investments in clean energy, its also a very clear National Security imperative for us. Under your leadership, texas made impressive progress in wind energy production. But i do worry that you have made statements opposing federal government involvement to encourage investments in any energy sector. With the success as youve seen in wind energy, i know you must recognize that these gains could not have been made without federal support. Our nations wind industry would not be where it is without the federal government and i want to replicate the success in wind energy that you saw in texas under your leadership. Id like to do that in illinois and across the nation. Will you maintain the support of programs at d. O. E. That strive to move us forward and away from the heavy reliance on fossil fuels . Senator, thank you. Just as an aside, i want to say thank you for your service. There are few people in this room that have made the commitment to this country that you have. Thank you. There are some in this audience that have, but we collectively thank you for your service. You and i have had a pretty broad ranging conversation about the alternative renewables that are out there. The least of which is not wind and my home state aggressively and very positively supported that. There are, i think, a role for the d. O. E. As we go forward continuing to find the technological advances, whether its on turbans, whether its on blade design or some other sack. One of the first emerging Technology Fund grants that we made after i had helped create that program was on nanophotonics and recruiting top scientists in the world, texas tech university, on the solar side. My commitment will be to look at every program, senator. I think you know my record of, im a fiscal conservative and i dont back away from ha. Thats a badge i wear with honor, but i do believe that there is a role for us to play both at the state level and at the federal level to continue to put forward, funded by our taxpayer dollars, technologies that can, in fact, make us more efficient, make us more economically viable, improve our quality of life, and thats my record and im, you cant change the stripes on the zebra. Its just the way i am. Its what i believe in. The administration knew that when they asked me to serve in this role. And i am committed to the continuation of using these brilliant scientists, the private sector, our universities, in collaboration to finding the solutions to the challenges whether its on renewable or whether its ways to use resources that we have in a more efficient, safe, effective manner. Thank you. Youve spoken quite proudly of our National Laboratories and both firm lab and argonne are big but also generating storage and computers and exploring the smallest Building Blocks of matter. You and i spoke at length about the need to develop ways to store, perhaps, reuse nuclear fuel. I popped out a bit ago to meet with the students from zion benton illinois, go fighting zitis. They told me i needed to say that, from a town that cannot develop lake front property because of the Nuclear Reactor there and the fuel has not been able to find a way to take care of it and i just want to make sure that youre committed to supporting these National Laboratories in the very important work that they do. I wont burn your time. Im out of time anyway. Just reiterating my commitment to managing that issue and i think, i will suggest to you, its been both a political and a management challenge and hopefully as we go forward, we can stand together as a country and talk about a legacy to make substantial progress to moving ways from your states both interim or longterm that address this challenge. Thank you. Thank you, senator. We are finished our first round. Well have an opportunity for another. I appreciate the fact, governor, that you have been sitting for a considerable period of time. Hopefully, well be able to move quickly through this second round and not put you through too much more. If youve got the endurance. Im here at your service, maam. Thats what we love to hear. We appreciate that. Governor, im just looking through my morning clips and the front page of the fairbanks daily news, frigid fairbanks today and Denali State Bank said its 52 below. So its cold back home. And when its cold, you need to stay warm. And when you need to stay warm, sometimes, again, it can be very costly to stay warm and so when we talk about all of the above Energy Policies in alaska, we really live it and perhaps more so than others because at times of the year like this, your life depends on your ability to keep warm. But its not just the oil and the natural gas and the coal and the fossil fuels that we have. The people in fairbanks dont have the benefit of natural gas. They are a community that right now is effectively relying on home heating fuel, so its expensive. For my sister to keep the house that i was raised in to keep it warm during the wintertime. So as we look to find solutions, one of the things were looking to in alaska is the prospect, the ability to access our natural gas from the slope and to be able to access that for the benefit of alaskians and also for the country and i look forward to your help in facilitating that natural gas pipeline but we have so much more. Weve got the wind. We dont have a lot of solar. Its a bit dark but that changes very soon. We have incredible opportunities. 24 of our energy from hydro power, an amazing resource in the southeastern part of the state but it isnt viewed as a renewable resource. Id like to work to change that with you but also have 33,000 miles of coastline. Thats a lot of coastline and a lot of water. Thats tidal energy. Thats marine hydrokinetic if we can harness the power. We have the biomass potential. We have pioneered in so many different ways. We want to be able to utilize microgrids, but right now, the definition of microgrid says that you have to have the ability to connect and disconnect from your grid. Well, if you dont have a grid in the first place, then you dont count as that. So we need to work with you as the incoming secretary to make sure that were not standing in the way. That our own federal government isnt standing in the way of this innovation thats coming from our national labs. Its coming from the innovators on the ground as were working to help facilitate this. So we need you to help us cut through a lot of what has been put in place that holds back the innovation and keeps the people and fairbanks right now that are trying to stay warm and its costing them a pretty penny to do so to give them the assurances that theyve got options. So i look forward to working with you on some of those specifics. One of the things that we dont have in alaska as in all of the above state, nuclear. A small population, you know that. But the prospect for what small modul modular. Would like you to address that as you talk about the broader pathway of Energy Options but the potential for small remote communities or whether it is our military installations up there, a good example, some of our Forward Operating base outposts but as smart duckworth made the point, and i think appropriately so, reliance on atrisk fuel supplies can be lifethreatening. So the potential that we have with micro and small modular reactors including the more advanced reactors, i think, hold great prospect for us. Can you speak to how you view the role for advanced nuclear and small modular reactors . Im not sure i can do it any more eloquently than you just have, mrs. Chairwoman, but those are the types of focus that the department of energy should be engaged with, should be funding. I will share with you that i will help you in any small or other way if the, there needs to be legislation that changes federal laws on the microgrid issue. Ill be more than happy to help you do that. It makes abundant good sense that, again, this is that old classic one size doesnt fit all. That it really hadnt thought through. It may be a really great idea. My home state happens to not be attached to the federal grid either and it works pretty well for us, but were a diverse country. Weve got a lot of different geography. Weve got different people. Weve got different regions. And to thoughtfully put into place Energy Policies that take into account that diversity is really important. So you have my commitment not only, im obviously a very strong supporter of this new technology. Obviously, we want to look at it from a safety standpoint. We want to look at it from a standpoint of being able to secure it properly, of these small modular Nuclear Reactors but there are places. Senator duckworth and i had that conversation. Particularly, from a military application to power those bases which you have a number of in your home state. It may be a good starting point on those and then plug them in if you will to the nearby neighborhoods and have that alternative form of energy that can make it available and affordable. Thank you. I know we said were going to senator sanders, so well turn to him. Welcome, governor. Republican president ial candidate rick perry said Global Warming is grounded in scientists for financial gain. Its been changing but ever since the earth was formed and perry added that the issue of Global Warming has been politicized and argued that america should not spend millions of dollars addressing a scientific theory that has not been proven and from my perspective is more being put into question, end of quote. I believe Climate Change is the great Environmental Crisis that we face and that we need to move forward aggressively to transform our Energy System and sustainable energy. Do you still hold the views that you expressed in 2011, number one. Number two, governor, do you agree with the scientists its imperative we transform the Energy System away from fossil fuel to Energy Efficiency so that we can leave this planet in a way that is healthy and habitable for our kids and future generations . Senator, i believe that the climate has changed. I believe some of it is naturally occurring. I believe some of it is caused by manmade activity. The question is, how do we address it in a thoughtful way that doesnt compromise economic growth, that quite frankly, doesnt affect our Energy Affordability . Senator murkowski talked about the individuals in her state. I dont mean to be rude. We have a short period of time and i apologize but senator cantwell made, i think, an important point on this and that is, we are in danger of spending god knows how many billions of dollars to repair the damage done by Climate Change, drought is becoming a major crisis. It will impact agriculture in a significant way. And basically, what im asking you, lets get beyond the the rhetoric, you dont have to agree with me. The scientists that i talked to, i think the majority of the scientists who studied this issue feel that Climate Change is a Global Crisis. Its not a question of balance of this and balance of that. Its a Global Crisis which requires massive cuts in carbon and transformation of our Energy System. How do you respond to that . I like getting past the rhetoric, sir. And getting past the rhetoric is looking at the record. Yes, sir, but i think its important to talk about the 12th largest economy in the world while i was the governor. Because youre asking me what am i going to do . Im asking you if you agree with the Scientific Community that Climate Change is a crisis and that we need to transform our Energy System to protect the future generations. And senator, i will respond that i think that having an academic discussion whether its with scientists or whether its with you is an interesting exercise, but do i have a record of affecting the climate in the world and this this country and the answer is yes. When you lower Carbon Emissions by 17 and sulfur dioxide by 66 and nox by 68 , dont you think thats a good thing . I think what would be a better thing is for you to say right now that you recognize that we have a Global Crisis and that the United States of america should help lead the world working with china, russia, countries around the world to transform our Energy System. Let me change subjects. Another area, as you mentioned in your opening remark, more than 60 of d. O. E. s budget deals with nuclear energy. I, and i think many other americans were concerned about president elect trumps remarks of supporting more countries to get Nuclear Weapons. The United States under democratic and republican administrations for many decades now has been strong in saying that we want not to be Testing Nuclear weapons. Can you give us some assurance that you are within the mainstream in saying that testing of Nuclear Weapons is a dangerous idea . Senator, what i can tell you is i think its really important for the United States to have a Nuclear Arsenal that is modern, that is safe, and at this particular point in time, i think if we had general here, he would tell you thats probably the case. The question was dealing with nuclear testing. Yes, sir. Thats where i was getting to. That obviously, the scientists that we have at the d. O. E. , the scientists in the private sector, im going to rely upon their observations of whether there is a clear technical ability to use the technology that we have today. I think anyone would be of the opinion that if we dont ever have to test another Nuclear Weapon, that would be a good thing, not just for the United States, but for the world. Senator lee . Thank you, madam secretary. Thanks so much, governor perry, for being with us. Yes, sir. Thank you for your willingness to be considered for this position. I want to talk to you about a couple of things that relate to the department that youll be he hadding if youre confirmed. One relates to uranium, something senator braso mentioned earlier. I worry when government gets involved in the marketplace, especially involved and distorts the marketplace. In some instances, it gets involved in a way that it picks winners and losers. Often favoring large wealthy corporations over newer startups by their very nature, tend to have a harder time gaining access to capital whether its from government or private sector sources. In other words, government gets involved and occupies a market. Takes over the whole market and one of the areas relates to the and prohibits. Its an industry that if destroyed, especially by government action, might cause us harm down the road. When Government Resources and government stockpiles dry up. Between 2009 and 2011, the department of energy transferred more uranium than it was allowed under the 2008 plan. And in 2012, the g. A. O. Found it violated federal law. It cost taxpayers nearly 200 million. The department of energys 2013 excess uranium Inventory Management plan eliminated all annual caps on the transfer of excess uranium. This is introduced a tremendous amount of uncertainty and hazard within the domestic uranium industry. So if youre confirmed to this position, will you have, youre going to have the opportunity with regard to excess uranium. Will it take into account the existence of a commercial domestic uranium market and one that honors the market and then stick to the plan thereafter . Senator lee, thank you. I, with you and senator rosso both helped bring me to understand this issue substantially better than before i came into your offices and thank you for that and as i further become up to speed, if you will, knowledgeable of it, but a broad look at this, you correctly identified this as a budgetary management issue at the department of energy. And again, i just like to remind folks that for 14 years, ive delivered a budget to the texas legislature. We negotiated those budgets. We prioritized and thats my commitment to you, senator. Is to manage this agency, understanding how the budgetary process works. Working with the office, the omb, members of the finance committee to find the dollars to accomplish the goals that we have in the department of energy. This obviously being one. The law clearly states that this does not, cannot, should not happen to manipulate the uranium supplies where it has a negative effect. I will follow the laws of this country. I appreciate that. A few seconds left and then get out one more point. The Nuclear Waste policy act creates an obligation that is fuel. Weve got 75,000 tons of Nuclear Waste and on site across the country. The department of energy started developing way waste that was halted by the Obama Administration in 2010 but the governments breach in this regard, the failure to finish this and provide disposal and 5. 3 billion in damages and that could go to 24 million in the next few years. Id like to know what you plan to do about that and move forward. Senator, not addressing the issue of yukka directly, i want to ask for the privilege to come up to speed and the legal aspect of this and i have the history, as i said to this Committee Earlier of solving problems, of being a manager and look at some alternatives outside of what historically looked at together but my commitment and my hope as a legacy of us, this committee, this congress, this administration for americans that we finally after 30 years of kicking the can down the road, whether its for whatever reason but start seeing clear definitive evidence of addressing this issue and moving to temporary and permanent si kroo citing of this Nuclear Waste. Thank you, madam chair. Governor perry, keeping on the same theme. Thank you for mentioning it in your statement and testimony, obviously, you know a little bit now about the history of the hand for side and producing of plutonium and history its had for our nation and obviously, now we want to see a commitment as we ask for every Energy Secretary for cleaning up the site and moving forward on waste Treatment Plant construction. So are you committed to funding hanford cleanup and getting the waste Treatment Plant finished . Im committed to working with you and prioritizing what is one of the most dangerous, most polluted sites we have in this country. The commitment the country ma s makes. Its been a failure from my perspective, and i will work with you on a very, very diligent basis up to hanford and walking with you and sitting down with the labor union to hear their concerns so that they know there is a secretary of energy that theres an administration that is committed to making True Movement on what i consider to be one of the real failures that this country has had dealing with our Nuclear Waste. Its definitely a complex problem. One of the most technical cleanup projects in the entire world. Will you work with the state on a triparty agreement between the federal government and the state on the cleanup . Senator, one of my goals and i hope one of my strong suits is going to be to reach out to governors and members who have had these challenges and find the collaborations and its going to take a collaboration. We understand that. This is going to be the private sector. Its going to be the state. Its going to be the federal government working together to make this happen. And doing it in a streamline and efficient way as we can. You have my commitment, yes, maam. Thank you. This larger issue, because the committee dealt with Nuclear Waste conversations in the last congress and a couple of things that, in fact, secretary muniz published an article capitalizing on the points with this issue. Two of those, want to get your comment on. First of all, the Blue Ribbon Commission formed by our former chair. Senator dminchi and others said basically one of the ideas would be to separate defense from commercial waste and to get it done in a rapid time period and a consensus process. The notion that we have spent time and money trying to do something that there are great objections to and stymieing the process. Their advocacy was looking for a process where those Holding Material would be done in a consensus fashion and do you support that concept of the blue ribbon recommendations . Senator, until i have the opportunity to sit and truly go over it, i think it would be a bit unfair for me to tell you absolutely without having read it at length, but as a general rule and a general observation of what you talked about, working with the states, having been in Public Service now for 30 plus years, finding consensus is what i did. It makes ultimate good sense to do that. Understanding that from time to time, you know, sometimes consensus just is really hard to reach and i know the complexities of this issue relatively well. Not as well as i will as we go forward. A very big part of the budget, 10 to 15 and just on the hanford site. So i think that notwithstanding the comments, my colleague from utah, i think the committee at least in the senate approach has been with our colleague, senator alexander from tennessee and our colleague from california and the legislation theyve endorsed, as appropriate ors on the other side of this equation has been to say, lets look at the discussions with states whether its new mexico or whether its texas or whether its who are on their way or planning various activities of trying to plan for low level waste. Not the whole equation, but isnt that a faster way to get solutions . Get sites cleaned up and processes moving. Contracted battles. So the Blue Ribbon Commission was a Bipartisan Group of experts, im trying to think of lee hamilton, a whole variety of people who made these recommendations. So senator, ill be open to having those conversations and finding the solutions to the challenges. Just one easy one since i know you have the dont mess with texas kind of attitude when it comes to the grid, will you make sure that bpa is protected and not privatized or ridiculous concepts . You and i have had that conversation our grid is i look forward to coming out there, not just to see hanford but the Bonneville Power Agency and what theyre doing. The lab. Yes. One thing i wanted to say about hanford, you also support, this is a long conversation, the workers making sure theyre safe during the cleanup of hanford waste. May be one of our most important duties to make sure the men and women working on a very dangerous site have the appropriate protection they deserve, theyve earned. Thank you. Senator henrik. Governor, i want to follow up on some of the conversations youve had with senator cantwell on cleanup and youre inheriting the cleanup of the legacy waste from the entire cold war. Tre for example, it will take about 4 billion to finish that effort. That effort is not as technically complicated, i think, as the hanford site, but it requires resources. I think if the budget is flat, youll have your hands full on this front. But weve heard about potential hiring freeze. I have an article this morning from the hill talking about rolling substantial portions of the d. O. E. Back to 2008 levels. How are you, and this is the Trump Transition Team article, how are you going to meet d. O. E. s commitment to states like new mexico, to states Like Washington who have consent agreements on these cleanup efforts if we have a dramatically smaller d. O. E. Budget . Over the 14 years, even expanded over the 30 years i was a state representative, appropriator, i was an agency head for 8 years and then i was the governor for 14 years, who did in there as well. And we had budgets that did this. They went up, went down. We had some really tough budgets in 1985 and 1987 in particular. I was an appropriator during that period of time. As an agency head, i got to deal with what i was given. I went over and negotiated as good and hard as i could and as the governor of the state, it wasnt always blue skies and smooth sailing. 2003, we showed up with a. So i have the experience of dealing with budget short falls. Obviously been blessed with some times where we had, im not sure i ever ran into a time when somebody said youve got all the money you ever need. But my history is i know how to manage, i know how to prioritize and i will make that commitment to you, senator, is that managing and prioritizing that budget inside the agency will be very high for me and i hope it gives some comfort that, you know, this is not my first rodeo whit com when it comes to dealing with budget short falls. I want to thank you for your comments on that and ask you about the waste isolation pilot plant. The wip facility. Wip is the nations only deep geologic repository waste from the Weapons Program and its a very important part of the cleanup effort. Wip was closed for nearly 3 years as a result of two serious accidents. We just reopened it this last month. The investigations into those incidents cited lack of proper management and oversight as one of the root causes. I want to ask you to assure me but more importantly, to assure the people of new mexico that the safe operation and proper maintenance of wip will be a Budget Priority and also, a management priority. Senator, again, i hope my history of managing a rather large entity, and im not going to sit here and say we got everything right every day in the state of texas. But by and large, it was a very well managed place. When there were mistakes made, i held people accountable because the people of the state of texas were holding me accountable. I consider my accountability not only to be to this administration, to this committee, to this congress but all the people of this country and your state. I want my neighbors in new mexico or our farmer neighbors in new mexico to know that there is a secretary of energy who not only will come to that site and hear their concerns, whether employees of wip or people who live around the communities there, that every reasonable, every thoughtful effort will be made to make sure that not only does the site stay open because of the powerful Economic Impact on the state but the people who work there are going to be safe. And youve got my commitment to that, sir. Thats exactly what i want to hear and i very much appreciate your willingness to spend the first few months of your tenure getting to places like the labs and the wip pifacility. Thank you, governor. I think as with the nominee that we had for secretary of interior, these folks are going to be doing a lot of traveling. We do appreciate. Senator cortes . Thank you, governor. I know in our meeting, you committed as well. So i appreciate that. Staying on the line of questioning here because youre going to have a lot on your plate when it comes to the cleanup and disposal of high level and low level Nuclear Waste, one of the d. O. E. Sites is the nevada National Security site established in 1950 to perform Nuclear Weapons activities and right now, three main areas of focus for the d. O. E. For cleanup on that site which is ground water contamination cleanup and low level radioactive water cleanup and Environmental Monitoring and recording. Are you committed to continuing the cleanup of the site . As i shared with governor sandoval and senator heller, i hope we can, again, as the chairman mentioned, im going to be traveling a lot and i wont be coming to nevada just to see my daughter. Might do that, as an aside. Thank you, governor. But well be there to go to that site to take a good appraisal of it and continue to prioritize these cleanups. I think everyone on the committee will agree that one of the main concerns is to manage the funding, very high on the priority list. Thank you, governor. And based on the conversation recently, im going to try one more time. Do you support storing Nuclear Waste at yucca mount . Im in the going to have a definitive answer that absolutely no way in hell. I heard that from senator heller. And governor sandoval and you pretty loud and clear. But i think what you need to hear from me is i am going to be looking at the alternative ways to address this issue. We have not for 30 years been able to address it. And if there are legitimate alternatives that keep the people of nevada happy, well, thats even better. But i think that i will not sit here in front of you in a Committee Hearing and tell you absolutely no way is nevada going to be the recipient of any high level waste but what i will tell you is it will work with you every day and the food senators have said, theres other places in this country that are willing to have this conversation. And i think we need to have, you know, an open conversation. I was for bringing high level waste into the state of texas while i was the governor. I seem to manage to get reelected every time i ran. So the issue is one that if were wise, if were thoughtful, if were respectful, that we use good science, we can find a solution to this, senator. Thank you. And then another reason why i would love for you to come to nevada, most people dont realize, 29 operating Geothermal Power plants in nevada right now employing potentially 6,375 individuals both directly and indirectly with jobs and weve been able to do so and create these job producing Clean Energy Power plants with the support of d. O. E. s Geothermal Technologies Office and what id like to know is will you commit to pushing for Adequate Funding for the office to continue researching Geothermal Energy innovations . All of the above, senator. I think all of the above means all of the above. So thats a yes . For you and i, well probably have a more pointed conversation is adequate. The word adequate. And as i shared in my remarks earlier, prioritization and Good Management of budgets can go a long way. Good. There is another project thats on the horizon called the forge lab project and fallon is the potential host for it. I would ask for your commitment and support in considering that as well, continuing to support those types of projects. As i become more knowledgeable of that operation there, my soninlaw has been a few times, so he can easily point it out to me. Thank you, governor. Thank you, senator franken. Thank you. Governor, as you know, twothirds of the department of Energy Budget is dedicated for our Nuclear Weapons program and the United States already has the worlds most formidable Nuclear Arsenal. We currently maintain approximately 4,000 nuclear weapo weapons, a number that is much bigger than we need to make an effective deterrent and yet on track to spend over the next three decades to sustain, replace and refurbish delivery systems, warheads and their supporting infrastructure. This plan was launched in a different budget era. And i can tell you that numerous very distinguished National Security experts believe that this investment will significantly hamper the ability of the United States to respond to conventional and unconventional threats that we may face. If you are confirmed would you be open to altering the pace and scope of the current modernization plans if it is clear that significant taxpayer savings can be achieved while still meeting the term requirements . Senator, i will address your remarks by saying that i am i understand my role as being the secretary of energy of being the manager of that agency. From my perspective the issues you bring forward, which with legitimate issues to talk about as a country but those will lie in your purview, and the Congress Making the decisions i would suggest relative to the numbers partly by the funding stream and what have you. I will be following the statutes and the laws that the United States congress put in place relative to those issues. You may have influence in this debate. Let me alert you to this. These are weapons were never going to use, we hope. A trillion dollars over 30 years. Yes, sir. Real money. Yeah. While were on the topic of Nuclear Weapons, i want to turn to the iran deal. As you know, your predecessor dr. Moniz, played a crucial role in negotiating the iran deal and its nuclear limits which have blocked irans potential to amass Nuclear Material for a Nuclear Weapon. In a january 2nd, 2017 letter to president elect trump 37 of the nations top scientists wrote that in sum the jcpoa has dramatically reduced the risk that iran could suddenly produce significant quantities of Nuclear Weapons material. They concluded that their technical judgment is the multilateral jcpoa provides a strong bulwark against an iranian Nuclear Weapons program and urged trump to preserve this critical u. S. Strategic asset. Specifically as a result of the iran deal irans uranium stockpile was cut by 97 . To 300 kilograms, a fraction of the amount needed for a single Nuclear Weapon with further enrichment iran reduced its installed centrifuges by twothirds. Irans Nuclear Enrichment levels now capped at 3. 67 , way beyond below weapons grade. The core of the iraq reactor was destroyed. And iran will redesign the facility so that it will not produce weaponsgrade plutonium. Given the nonproliferation benefits of the jcpoa, as secretary of energy i hope that youll make a real effort to talk to people in the National Security community who support the deal. I hope youll speak with the Israeli Military and intelligence community. Because i think they will tell you that this is not just in American National interests but also the interests of israeli National Security and i would urge you to advise the president elect to not get out of this deal. We i think that would be bad for our country. The other p5 plus one countries are going to be staying in it anyway. As Energy Secretary youll have the president s ear on this. So i just want to make a pitch to you. Yes, sir. To keep us in the iran deal. Yes, sir. Just as a response, sir, i think nonproliferation is a good thing. And in a general sense. I have not had a classified briefing yet. Until im confirmed, and i would certainly ask each of you for support on that. But until im confirmed, and i havent had that classified briefing, im not going to be as knowledgeable about this iranian deal with specificity. But to say that if d. O. E. Has a role and there may be a role that we have to play, and again, i havent had that classified briefing, to make sure that the iranians are living up, i think all of us can say that we want the iranians to live up to the deal. So message delivered, sir. Thank you. Thank you, governor. Senator king. Thank you. On that point i appreciate your comments, and i think one of the important roles the department of energy has is monitoring and working with the intelligence agencies to be sure that iran is living up to the deal and i know thats a very important responsibility. In terms of the arrangement itself, i view it as the fact that iran has gotten their benefits from the deal, which were the release of the sanctions. Now the burdens which are a tenyear or longer tamping down of their centrifuges, and all that, we would only be hurting ourselves if we terminated the deal because they would have gotten what they wanted and then we would release them from the restrictions of the agreement. Two things. Very short. And can all you need to do is say yes twice. One of them is sounds like a wedding. Yes, exactly. In your case it appears to have worked out beautifully. Yes, sir, it did. Is to invite you to maine, particularly the university of maine. Our university has a relationship as you mentioned, you talked about texas tech, to the department of energy labs, particularly oak ridge. In fact, senator collins and i are going to be there next week, a week from tomorrow, with people from oak ridge. Its an amazing Engineering School and engineering facility, offshore wind, testing facility, nanotechnology, 3d printing, and i think you would find it very illuminating. Would love to have you come up and if you want to come in more june or july than february, ill accept that. Thank you. Yes, sir, ill be there, senator. That was the right answer. The second issue i just want to commend to you, weve talked today about energy sources. One of the most interesting developments in energy in the last few years is whats called distributed energy, which is homes making their own energy storage, demand response, Energy Efficiency, and by the way the cheapest, cleanest kilowatt hour of all is the one we dont use. So theres enormous potential there. The department has been doing research and i just hope youll continue to Pay Attention to that as part of the all of the above strategy includes distributed energy and energy thats produced at the homeowner level or factory level but also things like efficiency, storage, demand response. Yes, sir. And senator, when you talk about the connectivity issue and distributive issue are you talking about issues like smart meters . Exactly. Yes, sir. Enormous potential there. We have a program in my home state, which we helped fund and gave incentives to the installation of those and its been quite successful from my memory. Those are the types of thoughtful engagement, the type of frankly investment that ive historically been very supportive of. Thank you. Thank you, madam chair. Thank you very much, governor, by the way, for your testimony yes. Thank you, governor. And your patience over a long morning. Thank you. And we do appreciate your endurance, your patience. We were just visiting about how long these nomination hearings go. But theyre longest for those sitting on that side of the table and we appreciate it. Youre welcome. I have no further questions. Senator cantwell had a clarification she wanted to make. I am going to file a couple things for the record. If we could get your response on Smart Buildings and Energy Efficiency. These have been very successful programs that have saved millions of dollars for those who own the building facilities and homeowners and we definitely want to get your response on that. I was out while you were dialoguing with senator stabenow. I was running back and forth between the treasury nominee hearing and this hearing. I think you gave her a commitment on the office of electricity. But i just want to make sure given all the discussion weve had this morning in the press that you understand that offices capability on storage, on cyber, on transforming the grid, on all of those things and are committed to that office. Most important aspects of the agency, senator, cyber, i hope ive made a deep impact on the committee about finding the solutions particularly on the cyber side. Theres some work that were going to be able to do on super computing side as well. Office of electricity you support wholeheartedly . Whatever the name of the committee or excuse me, the name of the agency needs to be im sometimes theres renaming and i dont intend to do that off the top of my head. But to those functions today there is great support in general for that as we dive into this agency, more obviously working with your office and the rest of the committee. I look forward to lots of successes. Senator, if i might just thank you for the opportunity to be here, you said something about the length of these things. This is important work. This is important business. And this is an monitor agency. If im so fortunate as to be confirmed and i hope i can get the support of each and every one of these senators as we go forward. But im committed to working with you, to being a partner in this process and to truly making america being an energyindependent place that has extraordinary future for our children, for our country, for our environment, and in turn the world. Well said. We thank you, governor perry. We appreciate once again the time youve given us today. The testimony youve placed before the wreckage, your willingness to answer the questions of virtually every member on the committee. We only had two members that were not able to be in attendance today. We will allow for questions to be submitted to the record, the deadline for Committee Members is close of business today. We would certainly encourage submission prior to that if at all possible. I will also ask unanimous consent to submit several letters of support for governor perry for the record of this hearing. I would ask that members submit any of their own to our chief clerk darla rejenski. But again, governor, thank you. And id also like to thank your family that has been there not only supporting you, behind you in this hearing but as they have supported you throughout your professional career and the leadership youve provided to the people of the state of texas and now your willingness to step forward. I also want to acknowledge the sacrifice and the service of mr. Luttrell. We appreciate that. We certainly honor you and all those who have served us. But with that, again, thank you. And the committee stands adjourned. Coming up in about 30 minutes, the Senate Judiciary committee will meet to vote on Jeff Sessions to be u. S. Attorney general. Live coverage starts at 10 30 eastern on our companion network cspan2. If approved that nomination will go to the full senate for a confirmation vote. Back here on cspan3 at 10 45 eastern, the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee will vote on the nomination of Oklahoma Attorney general scott pruitt to be epa administrator. Ahead of that session, here is a portion of mr. Pruettitts confirmation hearing from january 18th. Thank you. Just a couple of quick questions before we go back and forth. I just ask if you can please describe your environmental philosophy of what you would do to protect our environment. Well, mr. Chairman, as i indicated in my opening statement, i believe that the role of the regulator and this may not sound too