The long-stalled nominations were unanimously approved by the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee. And a key Republican says there are no GOP holds on them, and they will be confirmed.
That is awesome news for science in general and climate in particular (see “For NOAA head, Obama appoints yet another scientist who gets climate” and “Obama’s strongest message on climate yet: John Holdren to be named Science Adviser“).
Kudos to everybody who took some action to move these forward (see here).
E&E News (subs. req’d) has the full story:
The two nominees — John Holdren and Jane Lubchenco — cleared the committee in a unanimous vote this afternoon as part of an unannounced, closed-door markup, a committee aide said. The panel’s approval sends the nominees to the Senate floor, where they should pass by unanimous consent within the coming week, according to leaders of the committee from both sides of the aisle.
“They’re going to be confirmed,” said Commerce ranking member Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-Texas). Hutchison said there are no Republican holds on the nominees.
At issue are the confirmations of Harvard University physicist John Holdren, picked to head the Office of Science and Technology Policy, and Oregon State University marine biologist Jane Lubchenco, in line to lead the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Both positions could play key roles in the administration’s policies on climate change, marine conservation and other environmental issues.
Scientists, lawmakers and environmental groups have praised the picks since Obama announced them in December 2008.
Lubchenco and Holdren had a smooth hearing in the Commerce Committee last month, but their confirmations have been delayed by anonymous holds in the Senate. Lawmakers from both sides of the aisle have said the holds were not a direct objection to the nominees but an attempt to gain leverage on separate issues.
Commerce Chairman Jay Rockefeller (D-W.Va.) said today that the holds — at least all of those he knew of — have been released and the nominees should advance in the coming days.
Hutchison added: “I think there were a couple of senators — not on our side but the Democratic side — who were looking at other issues, not really so much [the nominees]. So I believe they will be cleared, nothing is controversial.”
Lubchenco, a conservationist and zoologist, has focused much of her research on climate change, ecosystems and marine reserves and placed considerable emphasis throughout her career on advocacy and public policy. As NOAA’s leader, Lubchenco would oversee a $4 billion agency whose responsibilities include a large portion of the federal government’s climate change research as well as marine issues.
Holdren was a driving outside force for more attention to climate change issues during the Clinton administration. As a leader of the President’s Council of Advisers on Science and Technology, he helped focus more government and industry attention on climate change-related technology and international clean energy initiatives, as well as on a federal program to develop a hybrid-electric car that was later dismantled by the Bush administration.
Previous in TP Climate Progress
When I see how Bush held up so many important programs, these flashes come to me that they (the Bushies) were such total idiots.
Just saw CNN.com has an unfortunately-too-brief article on the climate science conference in Copenhagen. The headline does read “World faces ‘irreversible’ climate change,” but despite its newsworthiness it isn’t the top story with the picture, nor even near the top on the list of stories, but ELEVENTH on the list, behind such monumental concerns as “Anna Nicole’s boyfriend, doctor charged” and “Sexy photos of tot mom partying surface.”