Newou can listen to Fox News articles!
The Senate has confirmed its first candidate of the week ahead of what is expected to be a choked schedule to run through as many presidents as possible by President Donald Trump’s pick.
David A. Wright is Trump’s election to lead the Nuclear Regulation Commission (NRC) for a five-year term, confirmed in the Upper Chamber with 50-39 votes on Monday. Wright was not the first to serve as chairman of the committee, but in his first role that began in 2020.
Major Trump candidates stagnated by Senate Dem put pressure on GOP leaders
President Donald Trump said he was welcoming the Super Bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles NFL football team in Washington on the White House’s south grass on Monday, April 28, 2025. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)
Trump had previously tapped Wright during his first term, but chose him again earlier this year to lead the NRC. His new terminology is expected to end in 2030.
The NRC is an independent regulatory body tasked with regulating commercial nuclear power plants, reactor licenses, renewals and other factors related to public health and safety protection with regard to nuclear energy. The Wright confirmation follows Trump’s announcement that the US and the European Union have a trade deal to buy US energy of $750 billion over the next three years.
The committee is independent of other arms in the government, but Senate Democrats have barred in recent regulatory bodies, in their view, in recent attempts to create more partisanship.
“All Options”: GOP’s Eyes Cut Aug’s Break and Move Dozens of Trump Candidates Stagnized by Dems
Senator Sheldon White House will depart Capitol for Senate Democrats’ lunch on Tuesday, June 13th, 2023.
Earlier this year, Trump signed an executive order. This considered stricter safety standards and reduced the timeline of environmental reviews and four times the country’s nuclear power capacity by 2050.
Senate Environment and Public Works Committee Chairman Shelley Moore Capit (RW.V.) has argued that Wright has been a member of the committee for the past seven years, first meeting the president’s wishes in 2018 as a member and chairman.
“To achieve this, we are empowered to lead our agency through high expectations to require experienced and highly qualified commissioners,” she said in a statement. “Well, David Wright will meet that Mark.”
Trump then fired a Democrat on the committee last month, and it is reported that the president’s Office of Government Efficiency (DOGE) staff were detailed by the Department of Energy to regulators.
That’s why Sen. Sheldon White House, a top Democrat on the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, urged him to warn of “hostile takeovers” of the committee by the energy department.
The move hurt what began as bipartisan support for Wright’s nominations. The White House initially supported him, but changed his position.
GOP lawmakers clash with strategies to avoid government shutdown crisis
On Monday, March 21, 2011, during a meeting at the NRC headquarters in Rockville, Maryland, the US Nuclear Regulation Commission logo is next to the US flag (Andrew Haller/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
“While Chairman Wright wanted this opportunity to rise, the situation at the NRC continues to deteriorate,” he said in a statement. “I can’t support him breathing right now.”
Click here to get the Fox News app
Still, Wright’s confirmation is a victory for both Senate Republicans and the White House after calling on Senate GOPs to strike candidates through a lockdown established by Senate Democrats.
Currently, there are over 140 “civilians” nominations for all positions of federal agencies, ambassadors and judges. The Senate has moved in ferocious clips to confirm candidates for the past six months. Having recorded nearly 100 people so far, the president has called on Senate Republicans to consider canceling the upcoming August break.
Senate majority leader John Tune (Rs.D.) warned that if his colleagues across the aisle continue to slow the supercommittee process due to the majority of remaining “uncontroversial” candidates, or that they are ready to stick around Washington.
“Or they could suppress reflexive anti-Trump sentiment and allow some of his rank and file candidates to proceed with unanimous consent or voice votes — as Republicans did when roles were reversed,” he said. “And I remind my colleagues of the dangerous and ugly precedent that they’re setting here. But the choices are theirs. But whether it’s slow or fast, we’ve seen President Trump’s candidate.”
Alex Miller is a writer for Fox News Digital, which covers the US Senate.
Source link