The Republican chair of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee is pushing ahead with a confirmation hearing for Energy secretary, despite Democratic objections.
Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) said in a statement Tuesday night that “the time for needless delays is over” while reaffirming that Chris Wright, President-elect Donald Trump’s pick to lead the Department of Energy, would appear before his committee Wednesday.
The dispute centered on a delay in getting Wright’s financial and ethics disclosures to the committee ahead of the hearing. Democrats argued Tuesday that the 10 a.m. hearing should be postponed by a week.
But Lee said late Tuesday that the committee had “received Chris Wright’s paperwork and is prepared to move forward without further unnecessary holdups.” He added that Democrats would have “more than sufficient time”’ to review the paperwork.