[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 63 (Thursday, April 11, 2019)]
[Senate]
[Page S2406]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                     Nomination of David Bernhardt

  Mr. President, on Mr. Bernhardt, yesterday, I sat down with David 
Bernhardt, President Trump's choice for Secretary of the Interior, and 
I pressed him on some things that we should all know before we vote on 
his confirmation.
  I asked Mr. Bernhardt: Do you agree that climate change is real, 
caused by humans, and that we must act? I asked Mr. Bernhardt if he 
will commit to not opening up the waters off our coasts to harmful 
drilling, even off the coasts of States opposed to such drilling, and 
what he will do about his well-documented web of conflicting interests. 
I got no answers to these questions.
  I remind all of my colleagues on the Atlantic coast that, again, I 
asked him to at least commit that he will not do drilling off the 
shores of States that didn't want drilling off their shores. He would 
not commit to that, and there is word that there is a plan in the 
Interior Department to allow that to happen.
  This is the same administration that promised to clean the swamp and 
rid Washington of corruption. Yet it is a twisted parody to think that 
President Trump wants an oil and gas lobbyist to lead the Department of 
the Interior. What a contradiction. What a betrayal.
  It doesn't stop there. Bernhardt reportedly participated in efforts 
to launch a White House climate denial panel, the sole purpose of which 
was to rebuke accepted science. We cannot allow the work of our Federal 
Agencies to fall into the hands of people like this.
  It is hard to imagine someone whose background is so at odds with the 
Department's mission as Bernhardt's. In good conscience, I cannot vote 
in favor of his confirmation. For the same reasons, I urge all of my 
fellow Senators, particularly those along the coasts, to vote against 
this nomination to protect their shoreline and their beaches.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from South Carolina.