[Congressional Record Volume 171, Number 20 (Thursday, January 30, 2025)]
[Senate]
[Page S516]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                      Nomination of Douglas Burgum

  Mr. HOEVEN. Mr. President, I rise today to urge my colleagues to 
support the confirmation of Governor Doug Burgum from my home State of 
North Dakota to serve as our Nation's 55th Secretary of the Interior.
  Whether it is energy, grazing, outdoor recreation, water supply, the 
National Park Service, or Tribal relations, Doug Burgum is an 
outstanding choice who fully understands the vast responsibilities 
under the Department of the Interior.
  I have had the pleasure to know Doug for over 30 years, and 
throughout his career, Doug has gained well-deserved national 
recognition as an innovative leader.
  Governor Burgum is a proud native of Arthur, ND, earning his 
bachelor's degree from North Dakota State University--home of the 
Bison--and his master's in business administration from the Stanford 
Graduate School of Business.
  After working as a consultant at McKinsey, he returned home to North 
Dakota, and he literally bet the family farm to purchase a nascent 
accounting software company, Great Plains Software. Over time, Doug 
hired thousands of North Dakotans to build and grow Great Plains 
Software, eventually launching a public offering in 1997. Then, 
ultimately, Great Plains Software was purchased by Microsoft in 2001, 
and it is now known as Microsoft Business Solutions. The vision of 
Microsoft actually goes back to the company that he built and to this 
day I think employs several thousand people in and around Fargo, ND.
  Great Plains Software, as I said, became Microsoft Business 
Solutions. He remained at Microsoft for a number of years, actually 
hiring the current CEO during his time there. He then left Microsoft in 
2007, started a number of other companies, went into philanthropy and 
helped really revitalize downtown Fargo, continued his support for 
NDSU, and just had a very significant impact in many different aspects 
of business of philanthropy.
  It is because of his countless contributions to North Dakota that, in 
2009, during my time as Governor, I named Doug as the 37th recipient of 
the Theodore Roosevelt Rough Rider Award, which is our State's highest 
honor.
  I remember he looked at me at that time and said--it was kind of 
funny. We had this big event for him and gave him this nice State 
honor. He looked at me and said, ``Gee, John, this is really great, but 
I sure hope I am not done accomplishing things at this point,'' you 
know, as he was getting the award. I remember that very clearly. 
Obviously, he was far from done.
  In 2016, Doug was elected as the 33rd Governor of North Dakota, and 
then he was reelected in 2020. He has been a true partner as we worked 
together to grow North Dakota into an energy powerhouse for our Nation.
  When I started as Governor, we produced less than 100,000 barrels of 
oil a day, going down, and we have gotten it up all the way to 1.5 
million barrels of oil a day--at that point, second only to Texas. It 
has gone back a little bit under the Biden administration, but we look 
forward to continuing to grow not just oil and gas but all the 
different sources of energy--coal-fired electricity, renewables, hydro. 
Just a real energy powerhouse for our country. So he brings that 
incredible energy experience to his new role.
  Doug did a great job as Governor, and then he ran for President. He 
was the first Presidential candidate, when he left the race, to endorse 
President Trump--first one to do it.
  President Trump knows the importance of a big energy agenda, and he 
knows what energy dominance means for our country, for our economic and 
national security. President Trump saw that Doug is not just the right 
fit to head the Department of the Interior as Secretary; President 
Trump also tapped Doug to lead the newly formed National Energy 
Council. Doug will do a tremendous job leading this integrated effort 
to truly make our country energy dominant, and he will work with 
President Trump to do that--vitally important for our economy, vitally 
important to bring down inflation, vitally important for national 
security, and vitally important to our allies so that they get energy 
from the United States rather than buying oil from countries like 
Russia or Iran and fueling either Russia's war machine or Iran's state 
sponsorship of terror.
  But Doug not only understands energy, he is also a rancher, a hunter. 
He loves our national parks, and he loves the great outdoors. That is 
what you want in a Secretary of the Interior because all of those are 
part of his portfolio at Interior.
  He has extensive experience in Native American affairs, and not only 
does he have the support of all of the Tribes in our State, he has the 
support from more than 180 Tribes from across the Nation.
  Doug received overwhelming bipartisan support from our Energy and 
Natural Resources Committee. He came out of committee 18 to 2. So I 
strongly urge all of my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to vote 
for his confirmation when we vote here very soon on his approval to be 
the next Secretary of the Interior for the United States of America.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The majority whip.