President Joe Biden’s nomination of David Turk to be the deputy secretary of energy was formally sent to the Senate late Thursday and referred to the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee.
The Senate was not in session Monday due to the Presidents Day holiday and the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee had not scheduled any hearing on the Turk nomination as of Tuesday.
The Department of Energy, through its roughly $20-billion-a-year National Nuclear Security Administration, is responsible for the design, construction and maintenance of nuclear warheads and bombs.
A deputy assistant secretary of energy for international climate and technology during the administration of former President Barack Obama, Turk is currently deputy executive director of the International Energy Agency. Should Turk advance out of committee, the full Senate would still have to approve his nomination.
If confirmed, Turk would fill the job held by Mark Menezes during the later days of the Donald Trump administration.
On Feb. 3, Senate Energy and Natural Resources advanced the nomination of former Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm (D) to be secretary of energy. No floor vote had been scheduled yet on the Granholm nomination, as of Tuesday.
Senate work on nominations effectively stopped last week as the chamber focused on impeachment proceedings against former President Trump related to the Jan. 6 Capitol Hill riot. A Saturday vote by the Senate came up 10 below the two-thirds margin needed to convict Trump on the single charge of inciting insurrection.
This story first appeared in Defense Daily affiliate publication, Weapons Complex Morning Briefing.