FERC took a significant step this morning to returning its quorum. Neil Chatterjee and Robert Powelson each passed the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee by a 20-3 vote margin, demonstrating significant bipartisan support for each candidate. Ron Wyden (OR) and Bernie Sanders (VT) both voted against the nominations (the third nay was inaudible to me). Both FERC Commissioner prospects passed with significantly wider bipartisan support than the DOE appointees that were also on the Committee’s slate.
Next up: Placement on the Executive Calendar for full Senate vote, then off to the President’s desk. I would expect that these final steps will move fairly rapidly, and we may be back to a functional FERC by the end of the month.
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