ABC News(WASHINGTON) — Donald Trump’s 2016 GOP primary rival, former Texas Gov. Rick Perry, on Thursday testified in his Senate confirmation hearing for energy secretary that he regretted once calling for the elimination of the agency, but deflected on whether budget cuts are in its future.
“My past statements, made over five years ago, about abolishing the Department of Energy do not reflect my current thinking,” Perry told the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources. “In fact, after being briefed on so many of the vital functions of the Department of Energy, I regret recommending its elimination.”
But when asked Thursday whether he supports reported budget cuts to the department, Perry said, “I can’t answer whether that’s true or not,” adding that many statements surface on the internet and not all of them are true.
He did say he would be an advocate for technologies from the agency that increase America’s strength.
Whatever the funding levels, Perry stressed that he knows how to manage and prioritize, particularly when it comes to budgetary deficits. “This is not my first rodeo when it comes to budget shortfalls,” he said in response to a senator who raised questions about the incoming administration’s willingness to maintain current agency funding.
Under additional questioning about climate change, Perry explicitly disavowed a questionnaire the Trump transition team had sent to Energy Department employees asking to name people who had worked on the phenomenon.
“The questionnaire went out before I was selected,” he said Thursday. “I don’t approve it. I don’t need that information. I don’t want that information.”
The Republican had acknowledged the existence of human-influenced climate change in his opening remarks, despite previous remarks to the contrary, and committed to “making decisions based on sound science.”
Perry later reiterated that position after fielding a question from one senator on whether he would use “science as his guide” as energy secretary. Perry said he would.
Perry, 66, also vowed to protect U.S. nuclear stockpiles, “keeping them modern and safe,” beef up security measures and “promote energy in all forms.”
He addressed the U.S. energy grid’s potential vulnerabilities to foreign influence, saying that the United States has the “technology and ability to stop cybersnooping.”
Trump selected Perry last month to serve as his secretary of energy after a contentious primary season in which the two ran against each other.
When announcing Perry for energy secretary, Trump praised his gubernatorial record in Texas, saying he had produced millions of jobs and lower energy prices when he ran the state between 2000 and 2015.
But Perry was one of the first in the 2016 race to attack Trump, calling him a “cancer on conservatism.”
The Department of Energy was one of the federal agencies Perry said during his first presidential run in 2012 that he wanted to see eliminated. It’s also the agency whose name he infamously couldn’t recall during a presidential debate.
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