Jon Kyl: “today, I voted in favor of Federico Pena to be the new Secretary of Energy for the Clinton administration in the sincere…”

“today, I voted in favor of Federico Pena to be the new Secretary of Energy for the Clinton administration in the sincere hope that he will be able to provide the Department of Energy with the leadership and direction it needs to provide the proper stewardship of our national energy and security needs in the 21st century. I have addressed the Energy and Natural Resources Committee with my grave concerns about the current direction of the Department of Energy, especially with respect to the maintenance and stewardship of our nuclear weapons complex. I wish to use this forum, and the occasion of the Senate vote on Federico Pena, to restate my concerns and to reiterate my hope that the current trend at the Department of Energy will be reversed. Of particular concern has been former Secretary Hazel O'Leary's technically insupportable insistence that the United States can both maintain a credible nuclear deterrent and permanently forego nuclear testing.”