[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 76 (Thursday, June 5, 1997)]
[Senate]
[Page S5384]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


                           EXECUTIVE SESSION

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                           EXECUTIVE CALENDAR

  Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate 
immediately proceed to executive session to consider the following 
nomination on the Executive Calendar: Calendar No. 115, Elizabeth 
Moler, to be Deputy Secretary of Energy. I further ask unanimous 
consent that the nomination be confirmed, the motion to reconsider be 
laid upon the table, and statements relating to the nomination appear 
at this point in the Record, the President be immediately notified of 
the Senate's action, and the Senate then return to legislative session.
  Mr. DASCHLE. Mr. President, reserving the right to object, and I will 
be brief because I know a lot of Senators want to depart, this will be 
the only opportunity we will have to express the hope that we could do 
better than what we have done this week, as good as it has been. The 
President has indicated tonight that he would be prepared to return the 
bill, the supplemental bill, to us tonight. There is no reason why, 
given that we could not vote on it tomorrow and send it back in time 
for him to sign it before the end of the week, because we are not going 
to be in--that is the announcement made by the majority leader--many of 
us believe that we need to vote against adjournment simply because it 
is our hope to stay in until the President returns the bill, giving us 
the opportunity to vote on it one more time this week.
  I thank the majority leader for yielding. I have no objection to the 
unanimous-consent request.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  The nomination considered and confirmed is as follows:

                          Department of Energy

       Elizabeth Anne Moler, of Virginia, to be Deputy Secretary 
     of Energy.

  Mr. DOMENICI. Mr. President, Elizabeth Anne (Betsy) Moler brings a 
strong record to the Deputy Secretary of Energy position. She has 
performed very ably in her previous leadership of the Federal Energy 
Regulatory Commission, and her past background with the Senate Energy 
and Natural Resources Committee will stand her in good stead in 
dealings with Congress. Two of her many accomplishments with FERC 
involved crafting order 636, which unbundled and largely deregulated 
the natural gas pipeline industry. And since 1992, she has led the 
Commission's deregulation of electricity utility markets--and she can 
now continue that leadership through her role within the Department. In 
all her previous assignments, Betsy Moler has demonstrated a keen 
analytical approach to complex issues. The Department will benefit from 
her abilities.
  She has a formidable task ahead of her, together with Secretary Pena, 
to attack the stifling bureaucratic foundations of the Department and 
root out the serious inefficiencies that plague the Department's 
operations. Quickly moving to external safety and health regulation of 
the national laboratories, on a time scale far shorter than the 
leisurely one proposed by the Department, and slashing the micro-
management of the Department will be challenges exceeding those that 
she faced at FERC.
  I look forward to working with Deputy Secretary Betsy Moler and 
Secretary Pena to help shape the Department into a critical and highly 
valued contributor to national priorities.

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