Donald Trump names Interior-designee Doug Burgum to head new White House council on energy
| Photo Credit: AP

President-elect Donald Trump announced Friday (November 15, 2024) that North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum, his choice to head the Interior Department, will also lead a newly created National Energy Council that will seek to establish U.S. “energy dominance” around the world.

“Mr. Burgum, in his new role, will oversee a panel that crosses all executive branch agencies involved in energy permitting, production, generation, distribution, regulation and transportation,” Mr. Trump said in a statement. As chairman of the National Energy Council, Mr. Burgum will have a seat on the National Security Council, Mr. Trump said.

“This Council will oversee the path to U.S. ENERGY DOMINANCE by cutting red tape, enhancing private sector investments across all sectors of the Economy, and by focusing on INNOVATION over longstanding, but totally unnecessary, regulation,” Mr. Trump wrote.

The Republican president-elect accused the “radical left” of engaging in a war on American energy, in the name of fighting climate change. His policy of energy dominance, which he also espoused during his first term, will allow the U.S. to sell oil, gas and other forms of energy to European allies, making the world safer, Mr. Trump said.

Mr. Trump’s policies, if adopted, would represent a near-complete reversal from actions pursued by Democratic President Joe Biden, who has made fighting climate change a top priority and has pushed for more electric vehicles and stricter regulation of carbon pollution from coal-fired power plants.

Mr. Trump has pledged to rescind unspent funds in Mr. Biden’s landmark climate and health care bill and stop offshore wind development when he returns to the White House in January.

Mr. Trump, who has called oil “liquid gold,” said oil and natural gas, along with minerals such as lithium and copper, should be exploited to the maximum extent possible. “We will “DRILL BABY DRILL,” expand ALL forms of Energy production to grow our Economy, and create good-paying jobs,” Mr. Trump wrote.

Mr. Burgum, 68, was elected North Dakota governor in 2016, his first campaign for elected office. A former software executive, he led Great Plains Software, which Microsoft acquired for $1.1 billion in 2001. Mr. Burgum has also led other companies in real estate development and venture capital.

Mr. Burgum, a Republican, has taken a pro-business style as governor of a state where agriculture and oil are the main industries. He’s pushed income tax cuts, reduced regulations, and changes to animal agriculture laws and higher education governance. Mr. Burgum also emphasized a “data-driven” approach to governing, advocated for a Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library in the state and prioritized engagement with tribal nations.

He ran for president in 2023, but dropped out after his bid failed to resonate. He later endorsed Mr. Trump.

Industry groups welcomed Mr. Burgum to the new administration and said Mr. Trump’s creation of an energy council signaled renewed emphasis on spurring domestic production and streamlining regulations.

Mr. Burgum’s “deep understanding of American energy resources and public lands positions him to tackle critical issues such as enhancing energy affordability … and strengthening the U.S. in the global energy marketplace,” said Erik Milito, president of the National Ocean Industries Association, which promotes offshore drilling. Milito is a former vice president of the American Petroleum Institute, the industry’s top lobbying group.

David Seabrook, president of The Wilderness Society, called Mr. Burgum “a longtime friend to fossil fuel interests” who played a role in an April event at Mr. Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort where Mr. Trump reportedly asked industry leaders and lobbyists to donate $1 billion to his campaign, with the expectation that he would curtail environmental regulations if re-elected.

“The first Trump administration treated (public lands) like they’re meant to be dug up, drilled or sold off for profit,” Seabrook said. “Gov. Burgum’s long track record of pushing for unchecked fossil fuel development sends a loud signal about which path they will take this time around.”

Earlier Friday (November 15, 2024), Mr. Trump announced that Steven Cheung would serve as his White House communications director and Sergio Gor will run the personnel office. Both are longtime advisers.

President-elect Donald Trump says he will nominate anti-vaccine activist Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to lead the Department of Health and Human Services. File
| Photo Credit: AP

President-elect Donald Trump says he will nominate anti-vaccine activist Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to lead the Department of Health and Human Services, putting him in charge of a massive agency that oversees everything from drug, vaccine and food safety to medical research and the social safety net programs Medicare and Medicaid.

“For too long, Americans have been crushed by the industrial food complex and drug companies who have engaged in deception, misinformation, and disinformation when it comes to Public Health,” Mr. Trump said in a post on his Truth Social site announcing the appointment. Mr. Kennedy, he said, would “Make America Great and Healthy Again!”

Mr. Kennedy, a former Democrat who ran as an independent in this year’s presidential race, abandoned his bid after striking a deal to give Mr. Trump his endorsement with a promise to have a role in health policy in the administration.

He and Mr. Trump have since become good friends, with Mr. Kennedy frequently receiving loud applause at Mr. Trump’s rallies.

The expected appointment was first reported by Politico Thursday (November 14, 2024).

A longtime vaccine sceptic, Mr. Kennedy is an attorney who has built a loyal following over several decades of people who admire his lawsuits against major pesticide and pharmaceutical companies. He has pushed for tighter regulations around the ingredients in foods.

With the Mr. Trump campaign, he worked to shore up support among young mothers in particular, with his message of making food healthier in the U.S., promising to model regulations imposed in Europe. In a nod to Mr. Trump’s original campaign slogan, he named the effort “Make America Healthy Again.”

It remains unclear how that will square with Mr. Trump’s history of deregulation of big industries, including food. Mr. Trump pushed for fewer inspections of the meat industry, for example.

Mr. Kennedy’s stance on vaccines has also made him a controversial figure among Democrats and some Republicans, raising questions about his ability to get confirmed, even in a GOP-controlled Senate. Mr. Kennedy has espoused misinformation about the safety of vaccines, including pushing a totally discredited theory that childhood vaccines cause autism.

He also has said he would recommend removing fluoride from drinking water. The addition of the material has been cited as leading to improved dental health.

HHS has more than 80,000 employees across the country. It houses the Food and Drug Administration, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Medicare and Medicaid programs and the National Institutes of Health.

Mr. Kennedy’s anti-vaccine nonprofit group, Children’s Health Defense, currently has a lawsuit pending against a number of news organizations, among them The Associated Press, accusing them of violating antitrust laws by taking action to identify misinformation, including about COVID-19 and COVID-19 vaccines.

Mr. Kennedy took leave from the group when he announced his run for president but is listed as one of its attorneys in the lawsuit.

President-elect Donald Trump gestures as he attends a meeting with House Republicans in Washington, Wednesday, Nov. 13, 2024
| Photo Credit: AP

The Republicans were declared the majority party in the U.S. House of Representatives Wednesday (November 13, 2024), completing a clean sweep of Congress and the White House in last week’s elections and handing incoming President Donald Trump vast legislative power.

After more than a week of vote counting, CNN and NBC projected that Mr. Trump’s party had reached the 218 seats needed to retain their majority in the 435-seat lower chamber, having already seized the Senate from the Democrats.

“It is a beautiful morning in Washington. It is a new day in America,” said House Speaker Mike Johnson, who held a press conference to celebrate victory Tuesday (November 12, 2024) before the result was official.

“The sun is shining, and that’s a reflection about how we all feel. This is a very, very important moment for the country and we do not take it lightly.”

Mr. Trump triumphed in every swing state in the November 5 presidential election and also looked to have won the national popular vote, with preliminary figures showing him ahead of Democratic Party challenger Kamala Harris by 3.2 million votes.

Having control of both chambers of Congress will clear the way for him to confirm his nominations for key administration positions and will also allow him to push through his radical agenda of mass deportations, tax cuts and slashing regulations.

Conservative tilt

“We need positions filled IMMEDIATELY!” Mr. Trump wrote on the X social media network on Sunday (November 10, 2024), referring to the need for the Republican-majority Senate to quickly approve his cabinet picks.

He is also seen by analysts as facing fewer judicial constraints than previous presidents, with his nominations to the Supreme Court during his first term, from 2017-2021, having given the high court a heavily conservative tilt.

The Republicans’ sweep of the presidency and Congress is not unusual, with Mr. Trump in his first term and Democratic predecessors Joe Biden and Barack Obama also benefiting from majorities at the start of their presidencies.

But the loss of the House extinguishes any remaining hope among Democrats that they might be able to stand in the way of Mr. Trump’s agenda for now.

On a huge day for governance in Washington, Senate Republicans picked a traditionalist, John Thune, as the chamber’s new leader — rejecting Trump favorite Rick Scott in a secret ballot.

The Senate — the upper chamber of Congress — jealously guards its independence and institutional authority, and its leadership election was seen as a clue into how much leeway members intend to give Mr. Trump.

‘Work starts today’

The incoming Republican has promised more tax cuts, a gutting of environmental and other regulations, as well as a crackdown on crime, immigration and his political opponents.

He has begun to assemble his second administration by naming campaign manager Susie Wiles to serve as his White House chief of staff, as well as appointing loyalists such as Senator Marco Rubio and Congressman Mike Waltz to his national security team.

“This Republican team is united behind President Trump’s agenda, and our work starts today,” Mr. Thune, who represents South Dakota, said in a brief statement — revealing later that he had spoken on the telephone with Mr. Trump.

Mr. Trump is expected to further test lawmakers early in his presidency with pardons for rioters convicted in the 2021 storming of the Capitol, sweeping import tariffs and vast tax cuts expected to pile on debt.

The top priority for both parties in both chambers is funding the government to keep federal agencies open after December 20, with Republicans mulling a stop-gap measure that would keep the lights on into March.

The entire House of Representatives — Democrats as well as Republicans — gets to vote on the speaker, meaning Mike Johnson has to wait until the new Congress convenes in January to find out if he can hang on to the gavel.