WASHINGTON (AP) \u2014 Former Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm won Senate confirmation Thursday to be energy secretary, joining President Joe Biden\u2019s Cabinet as a leader of Biden\u2019s effort to build a green economy as the United States moves to slow climate change.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The vote was 64-35, with all Democrats and 14 Republicans, including GOP leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, voting yes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Granholm, 62, served two terms as governor in a state dominated by the auto industry and devastated by the 2008 recession. She has promoted emerging clean energy technologies, such as electric vehicles and battery manufacturing, as an answer for jobs that will be lost as the U.S. transitions away from oil, coal and other fossil fuels.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Granholm, who was sworn in late Thursday, is just the second woman to serve as energy secretary. She tweeted her thanks to senators and said, \u201cI\u2019m obsessed with creating good-paying clean energy jobs in all corners of America in service of addressing our climate crisis. I\u2019m impatient for results. Now let\u2019s get to work!\u2019’<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sen. Joe Manchin, chair of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, said Granholm has the leadership skills, vision and compassion needed at the Energy Department to \u201cdevelop innovative solutions for the climate challenge\u2019’ while preserving jobs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Granholm is committed to working every day \u201cto ensure that we don\u2019t leave any workers behind as we move towards a cleaner energy future,\u2019’ said Manchin, D-W.Va.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
During her confirmation hearing last month, Granholm pushed her plans to embrace new wind and solar technologies. But her position caused tension with some Republicans who fear for the future of fossil fuels.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe can buy electric car batteries from Asia, or we can make them in America,\u201d Granholm told senators. \u201cWe can install wind turbines from Denmark, or we can make them in America.\u2019’<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Wyoming Sen. John Barrasso, the top Republican on the Senate energy committee, said Biden \u201cseems to want to pull the plug on American energy dominance. So I cannot in good conscience vote to approve his nominee for secretary of energy.\u2019’<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Barrasso and other Republicans have complained that a freeze imposed by Biden on oil and gas leases on federal lands is taking a \u201csledgehammer\u201d to Western states\u2019 economies. The moratorium could cost tens of thousands of jobs unless rescinded, Barrasso said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He and other Republicans also bemoaned Biden\u2019s rejection of the Keystone XL pipeline from Canada to the U.S. Gulf Coast, saying thousands of jobs will be lost and a friendly source of oil left idle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Granholm assured lawmakers that creating jobs was her top priority \u2014 and Biden\u2019s.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe cannot leave our people behind. In West Virginia, and in other fossil fuel states, there is an opportunity for us to specialize in the technologies that reduce carbon emissions, to make those technologies here, to put people to work here, and to look at other ways to diversify,\u2019’ she said at her Jan. 27 hearing. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
During her introduction as Biden\u2019s nominee, Granholm described arriving in the U.S. at age 4, brought from Canada by a family \u201cseeking opportunity.\u201d She said her father found work as a bank teller and retired as head of the bank. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt\u2019s because of my family\u2019s journey and my experience in fighting for hardworking Michigan families that I have become obsessed … with gaining good-paying jobs in America in a global economy,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In other action Thursday on Biden\u2019s Cabinet nominees:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
SURGEON GENERAL<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Surgeon general nominee Dr. Vivek Murthy said Americans must not lose track of opioid addiction and other health emergencies amid the intense national focus on overcoming the coronavirus pandemic. He told senators at a hearing that \u201cwe cannot neglect the other public health crises that have been exacerbated by this pandemic, particularly the opioid epidemic, mental illness and racial and geographic health inequities.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
After dipping slightly, opioid deaths have risen again, the result of street formulations laced with the powerful painkiller fentanyl.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Murthy told the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee that the overdose rescue drug naloxone should be even more widely available and that medication-assisted treatment must be expanded.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Murthy, who was surgeon general in the Obama administration, has drawn opposition from gun rights groups because of his assessment that gun violence is a public health problem. But he tried to dispel notions that he would launch a crusade against guns. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
He told Sen. Mike Braun, R-Ind., that while he supports government studying the problem, \u201cmy focus is not on this issue, and if I\u2019m confirmed it will be on COVID, on mental health and substance use disorder.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
TRADE REPRESENTATIVE<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Biden\u2019s pick for U.S. trade representative promised to work with America\u2019s allies to combat China\u2019s aggressive trade policies, indicating a break from the Trump administration\u2019s go-it-alone approach. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Katherine Tai told the Senate Finance Committee that rebuilding international alliances would be a priority, as well as \u201creengaging with international institutions\u201d to present Beijing with \u201ca united front of U.S. allies.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Tai did not address whether the Biden administration would drop former President Donald Trump\u2019s tariffs on imported steel and aluminum or whether it would revive the Obama administration\u2019s Asia-Pacific trade deal, which Trump killed. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
BUDGET DIRECTOR<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Another key Republican lawmaker came out against Biden\u2019s embattled pick to head the Office of Management and Budget, Neera Tanden, raising further questions about her viability.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Iowa GOP Sen. Chuck Grassley told reporters he won\u2019t support her nomination. He and Alaska Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski were two Republicans seen as potentially gettable votes for the White House, as Grassley had previously said he\u2019d had good conversations with Tanden. Murkowski has yet to say how she\u2019d vote.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
With a handful of other key centrist Republicans coming out against her in recent days, Tanden\u2019s path to confirmation hinges largely on Murkowski and Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, D-Ariz., neither of whom have made their positions known. The White House was forced to search for a Republican to support Tanden after West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin announced his opposition last week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Lawmakers have largely cited Tanden\u2019s controversial and at times harshly critical tweets about members of both parties in explaining their opposition to her.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Associated Press writers Alexandra Jaffe, Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar and Paul Wiseman contributed to this report. <\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The vote was 64-35, with all Democrats and 14 Republicans, including GOP leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, voting yes.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":45983,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_acf":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":68,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":[]},"categories":[106,31,15,68,33],"tags":[],"coauthors":[2924],"class_list":["post-15247","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-daily-brief","category-home","category-management","category-leadership","category-newsletters"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"AILONNYP2ZEGHA2PJC7G62VXRY","arc_canonical_url":"\/management\/leadership\/2021\/02\/26\/former-michigan-gov-granholm-confirmed-as-energy-secretary\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented By:"},"yoast_head":"\n