On April 4, the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee advanced two important nominations to the Department of the Interior (DOI), which comes exactly one week after the Committee held a confirmation hearing to consider Acting Secretary Bernhardt’s nomination to serve as Secretary of the Interior.
The first nomination to be reported favorably by the Committee was the approval of David Bernhardt to serve as Secretary of the Interior. Currently, Mr. Bernhardt is serving as the Acting Secretary of the Interior, a role he has served in since January 2019. Prior to his service as Acting Secretary, Bernhardt was the Deputy Secretary of the Interior since July 2017. The Committee advanced Bernhardt’s nomination on a bipartisan vote of 14-6, which includes the favorable votes of Congressional Sportsmen’s Caucus (CSC) Leaders Senators Martin Heinrich (NM) and Ranking Member of the Committee Senator Joe Manchin (WV).
The second nomination the Committee reported favorably was Susan Combs to serve as Assistant Secretary for Policy, Management, and Budget. Since her nomination in 2017, Combs has been serving in a number of roles at the Department since first nominated including as Acting Assistant Secretary for Policy, Management, and Budget.
The Congressional Sportsmen’s Foundation applauds Energy and Natural Resources Committee Chairwoman and CSC Member Lisa Murkowski (AK) as well as Ranking Member Manchin for advancing the nomination of Acting Secretary Bernhardt and Susan Combs to the Department. The nominees now await a full vote by the Senate.
Studies conducted at both the state and federal level have found that the number of hunters and trappers have been on a generally declining trend over the past several decades. To increase recruitment, retention, and reactivation (R3) of hunters and trappers, which initiative do you think would have the greatest impact?
