Joe Manchin: “first of all, let me thank my dear friend Senator Carper, who heads up EPW and does a tremendous job with his staff. We…”

“first of all, let me thank my dear friend Senator Carper, who heads up EPW and does a tremendous job with his staff. We have had a great working relationship here. We all know that having a fully staffed FERC is going to make a lot of difference in what we do in this country, so we begin work this evening on the first of three nominations for the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. David Rosner is one, Lindsay See, and Judy Chang are the three that Senator Carper mentioned. The Committee on Energy and Natural Resources reported all three of these nominations with extremely strong bipartisan support. During their confirmation hearing, each of the nominees demonstrated deep experience on energy and legal matters, a commitment to follow the law and work within the authorities Congress has provided to FERC, and a recognition that all of our Nation's energy sources play an important role, providing affordable, reliable energy to families and businesses across our country. Like most of our independent regulatory Commissions, by law, FERC must be bipartisan. But in protecting the public interest, Commission members must conduct themselves as nonpartisan guardians, no matter what their party affiliation might be, of the public interest. That is exactly what we need from FERC Commissioners as they undertake the critical work of the Commission, and that is what I expect from these three nominees before the Senate as they come up for votes this week.…”