[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 105 (Wednesday, June 16, 2021)]
[Senate]
[Pages S4576-S4577]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                    Nomination of Tommy P. Beaudreau

  Mr. BARRASSO. Madam President, the Senate will be voting tomorrow on 
the nomination of Tommy Beaudreau to serve as the Deputy Secretary of 
the Interior. If confirmed, he will play a critical role in managing 
our Nation's public lands, our natural resources, our national parks, 
our wildlife areas, and the Outer Continental Shelf. He will oversee 
the management of the largest water supply in the West, and he will 
also oversee our Nation's trust responsibilities to American Indian 
Tribes and Alaska Natives. He will be responsible for the multiple uses 
of our public lands.
  One of the most important roles that he will fulfill is overseeing 
the development of traditional and renewable energy supplies on public 
lands and waters.
  Energy production on public lands is the engine of Wyoming's economy. 
It creates good-paying jobs. It provides tremendous revenue for the 
State, and we use the essential services of the State funded by this, 
like public education.
  Mr. Beaudreau has extensive experience at the Department of the 
Interior. He served in a leadership position during the Obama 
administration. As an attorney in the private sector, he regularly 
handled matters relating to the Department. He is an expert in his 
field. His qualifications are clear. It is also clear from his 
nomination hearing

[[Page S4577]]

that he understands America's needs for an ``all of the above'' energy 
strategy. That strategy must include coal, oil, natural gas, nuclear 
power, and renewables.
  I appreciated his commitment to working with members of the Energy 
and Natural Resources Committee. The Department needs to listen and 
collaborate with the people of Wyoming and the West. These are the 
States that rely heavily on energy production on our public lands. We 
are the States that power America. We are the ones that will be hit the 
hardest by President Biden's punishing Executive orders. This 
administration has unleashed a barrage of Executive actions that 
threaten to destroy the livelihoods of oil, natural gas, and coal 
workers in the West. It is critical that Mr. Beaudreau keep those 
Americans at the forefront of his mind as he works at the Department. 
He can serve as a voice of reason in an administration that is waging a 
war on American energy workers.
  My goal is to hold Mr. Beaudreau and the Biden administration 
accountable to the commitments that Mr. Beaudreau has made to our 
committee, and I will support his nomination