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JUST IN: Another Trump Cabinet Nominee Has Been Confirmed, Bringing Total To Eight

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The U.S. Senate has confirmed President Donald Trump’s nominee for Secretary of the Interior, North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum. The former presidential candidate secured confirmation with significant bipartisan support, with the final vote ending up at 79-18.

On Wednesday, senators voted by a 78–20 margin to advance Burgum’s nomination to a floor vote. All Senate Republicans voted to confirm, as did 25 Democrats. An additional three Democrat senators did not vote.

Burgum is expected to play a key role in President Trump’s campaign promises to revitalize the American energy industry and do away with regulations that have hampered crucial projects and offshore drilling. “We’re going to do things with energy and with land, interior, that is going to be incredible. And so I look forward to doing the formal announcement, although this is a pretty big announcement right now. Actually, he’s going to head the Department of Interior, and he’s going to be fantastic,” Trump said when announcing Burgum’s nomination a few weeks after the election.

Burgum, 68, has served as governor of North Dakota since 2016. He endorsed the president-elect earlier this year after suspending his unsuccessful presidential bid. The governor was once seen as a top candidate to serve as Trump’s running mate before he selected J.D. Vance back in July.

Throughout his presidential bid and tenure as governor, Burgum placed a massive emphasis on ramping up U.S. energy production and cutting regulations that bog down American producers.

Burgum appeared before the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee earlier this month, where he told lawmakers that national security and the economy will be his top areas of focus once confirmed. Energy policies laid out by Trump include an expansion of shale oil drilling, commonly known as fracking, the reinstitution of the Keystone XL oil pipeline between the U.S. and Canada, and the formation of a National Energy Council consisting of all agencies and departments that deal with energy production, generation and distribution.

Trump has already taken a number of executive actions pertaining to energy policy during his first days in office, including a reversal of former President Biden’s ban on offshore drilling and an official withdrawal from the Paris Climate Accords, which would have forced the U.S. to pay trillions while major polluters like India and China pay hardly anything.

Burgum speaks with attendees at the Republican Jewish Coalition’s 2023 Annual Leadership Summit at the Venetian Convention & Expo Center in Las Vegas, Nevada
Photo: Gage Skidmore

“As Governor of North Dakota, I also serve as Chairman of the North Dakota Land Board, which manages our state’s land and minerals with the goal of yielding a return for a state endowment fund that significantly funds public education. I chaired the North Dakota Industrial Commission, which oversees 16 agencies that are related to a variety of things, including energy research, the state’s geologic resources, energy production, and transmission,” Burgum said during his confirmation hearing earlier this month. “The governor of North Dakota also serves as the chair of the state water commission, overseeing billions of dollars of water resources and projects. All of these are parallel responsibilities to Interior and often interacted with Interior agencies.”

Burgum went on to point to North Dakota’s massive GDP growth in recent years, much of which has been driven by the energy industry. “Demographically, our state went from one of the oldest states to one of the youngest. We attracted record levels of talent and investment capital. I say this because our success was underpinned by the understanding that we live in a time of tremendous, tremendous abundance, and we can access that abundance as Americans by prioritizing innovation over regulation. If given the opportunity to serve as the Secretary of Interior, I’ll bring those experiences and those lessons learned to the leadership of the tens of thousands of dedicated professionals within the Department of Interior.”

With Thursday’s vote, Burgum is now the eighth Trump cabinet nominee to be confirmed. A floor vote is expected for Trump’s nominee for attorney general, Pam Bondi, either tonight or tomorrow after her nomination was advanced out of committee in a 12-10 vote on Wednesday.

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