© 2024 Texas Public Radio
Real. Reliable. Texas Public Radio.
Donate
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Reports: Rick Perry Lands Spot in Trump's Cabinet as Energy Secretary

KUT 90.5 | By Abby Livingston, Texas Tribune,
Abby Livingston, Texas Tribune
Published December 12, 2016 at 11:16 PM CST
Gov. Rick Perry addresses media at a press conference following the unveiling of his official portrait at the Texas Capitol on May 6, 2016
Marjorie Kamys Cotera
/
Texas Tribune
Gov. Rick Perry addresses media at a press conference following the unveiling of his official portrait at the Texas Capitol on May 6, 2016

From the Texas Tribune:

President-elect Donald Trump has reportedly selected erstwhile rival and former Texas Gov.  Rick Perry to serve as his energy secretary.

If confirmed, Perry will oversee American energy policy and its ramifications on the economy, environment and national security.

CBS News and other outlets  reported the news late , hours after Perry met with the president-elect in New York. It was the second time Perry had made the trip to Trump Tower. 

Yet Perry has previously supported abolishing the Department of Energy entirely. Famously, during a presidential debate in November 2011, Energy was the third federal agency that Perry couldn't name while trying to list the three he wanted to eliminate.

“It’s three agencies of government when I get there that are gone — Commerce, Education and the, um, what’s the third one there? Let’s see,” Perry said, before finally giving up with his now-infamous "oops."

The appointment marks a full repair in Perry’s relationship with Trump. Perry called Trump “a cancer on conservatism” last year while the two men were in a crowded field for the Republican presidential nomination. But Perry was one of the first members of the Republican establishment to back Trump, once it became clear in May that the real estate mogul had secured the party's nomination.

Perry’s background as governor of Texas, a state rife with natural resources, is a key qualifying credential for the post. But this Cabinet role can go well beyond oil and natural gas. The outgoing secretary of energy, Ernest Moniz, had a physics background and played a central role in President Obama’s Iranian nuclear deal.

If confirmed, Perry will be the third Texan to serve as secretary of energy. Previously, Houstonian Charles Duncan served in this role under President Jimmy Carter, as did Laredo native Frederico Peña in the Clinton administration.

Perry will face Senate confirmation once Trump takes office. Republicans control the Senate, making that process all the easier for the president-elect’s nominees. 

Copyright 2020 KUT 90.5. To see more, visit .

Tags
Rick Perry
Abby Livingston, Texas Tribune
Abby Livingston joined the Tribune in 2014 as the publication's first Washington Bureau Chief. Previously, she covered political campaigns, House leadership and Congress for Roll Call, the Capitol Hill newspaper. A seventh-generation Texan, Abby graduated from the University of Texas at Austin. She grew up in Fort Worth and has appeared in an episode of "The Bold and The Beautiful." Abby pitched and produced political segments for CNN and worked as an editor for The Hotline, National Journal’s campaign tipsheet. Abby began her journalism career as a desk assistant at NBC News in Washington, working her way up to the political unit, where she researched stories for Nightly News, the Today Show and Meet the Press. In keeping with the Trib’s great history of hiring softball stars, Abby is a three-time MVP (the most in game history —Ed.) for The Bad News Babes, the women’s press softball team that takes on female members of Congress in the annual Congressional Women’s Softball breast cancer charity game.
See stories by Abby Livingston, Texas Tribune
Abby Livingston, Texas Tribune
Abby Livingston joined the Tribune in 2014 as the publication's first Washington Bureau Chief. Previously, she covered political campaigns, House leadership and Congress for Roll Call, the Capitol Hill newspaper. A seventh-generation Texan, Abby graduated from the University of Texas at Austin. She grew up in Fort Worth and has appeared in an episode of "The Bold and The Beautiful." Abby pitched and produced political segments for CNN and worked as an editor for The Hotline, National Journal’s campaign tipsheet. Abby began her journalism career as a desk assistant at NBC News in Washington, working her way up to the political unit, where she researched stories for Nightly News, the Today Show and Meet the Press. In keeping with the Trib’s great history of hiring softball stars, Abby is a three-time MVP (the most in game history —Ed.) for The Bad News Babes, the women’s press softball team that takes on female members of Congress in the annual Congressional Women’s Softball breast cancer charity game.
See stories by Abby Livingston, Texas Tribune
Related Content