There must be whistleblower protection. Can you address how you feel about whistleblowers and retaliation within the department. I would be happy to. Should i be confirmed i would do everything in my power to make sure theres no retaliation. I feel whistleblowers are an important part of the way democracy functions and i was happily recently the president signed into law and other whistleblower due to efforts, but i believe within each department we need to ensure not only various environment of of trust and respect, but a safe place for voices to be heard. Its vital we understand concerns of employees. Let me also address contracting after disasters. We are all very worried about all of the americans. For the first time i believe, in my lifetime weve been unable to restore a sick living necessities to thousands of americans for weeks now. Im confident you will get other questions about puerto rico, but i want to hone in on contracting youve awarded more than 2 billion in contracts, tw
Good morning. We are here to consider the nomination of kiersten m nelson nielson be the secretary of Homeland Security. We would making introductions later on. Karen kelly, general kellys wife showing support for the nominee. I know this nielsen will introduce miss nielsen will is her family. America is facing enormous challenges. Trillions, over the no party is giving us assurances, and were looking at deficits in the horizon. Our enemies are on the rise, as russia destabilizes neighbors and partners with iran to control the middle east. We did modify korans behavior for the worst. Irans abilityy for the worst. North korea continues to develop nuclear weapons. Challenges that face the next secretary of the department of Homeland Security are equally daunting. We have recently experienced unprecedented destruction caused by hurricanes and wildfires. Fema and other budgets are already stretched in for these disasters. And use of the internet spreads, by socialats posed media acts of te
Capitol hill studio by the Deputy Editor of the provincial energy news from the coal industry is in the United States what are the main types of coal mined in the United States . You to go from black to brown song that is mined in eastern pennsylvania is the not as much now. And then that type that is used for power plants than the type that is more brown and has less ability to produce energy but it is used in north dakota lot so that ranges to their different based and what part of the country. You talk about their ranges of coal talk about the mines. A lot of people assume all coal mines are power plants. But there are a lot of minds and there is the big marketlants for our metallurgical coal you estimate coal and steel and iron. A lot of the exports of overseas are for that metallurgical coal. It is and the power plant regulations but how much countries are developing and how much steel bidi to build there is speculation is our today our guest this morning should note that as we ta
Proposed fiscal year 2018 budget. Members asked questions about the proposed cuts of the budget as well as to where to store the ations Nuclear Waste. The committee will come to order. I apologize for the delayed start. But hopefully we will have an opportunity to hear from the of the and learn president s views for the department of energy. Secretary perry, i want to welcome you to your first hearing following your bipartisan confirmation here in the senate. It took us a little bit longer, we are grad to have you at the helm and getting a full complement of folks there at the department. The budget request for the department of energy takes a different approach. The president has made a concerted effort to increase funding for the National Nuclear facility. This is a portion of the department that falls outside the scope of our committee here. The administration has requested robust funding for the cleanup of Nuclear Waste left behind by our countrys cold war legacy. The budget reques
Than we hoped to get you in this role, were glad to have you at the helm. We look forward to helping you get a full complement of folks there at the Budget Department as well. The budget approach takes a different approach this year than weve seen in the past. This is portion of the department that falls outside the scope of our committee here. The administration has also requested robust fund frg the cleanup of Nuclear Waste left behind by our countrys cold war legacy. The budget request proposes deep cuts to research and development for energy and science. It also proposes to phaseout innovative programs that have had demonstrated success. I understand what drove this proposal, but im also concerned by certain parts of it. The United States is the world leader in science and energy. We like it that way. We want to keep it that way. And at the core of that is the work done at our National Labs and universities by the men and women who dedicate their careers to further science. Members