Senate confirms Trump's nominee for No. 2 Interior post

The Senate voted to confirm David Bernhardt to be deputy secretary of the Interior Department. The Senate voted 53-43 on Monday evening to confirm him to agency’s No. 2 post. Bernhardt — only the second Interior Department nominee confirmed by the Senate since President Trump took office — will serve under Secretary Ryan Zinke. Monday’s vote means Bernhardt will make his return to the Interior Department, an agency where he served as solicitor under President George W. Bush. He was confirmed to that position with a unanimous vote in 2006. But Bernhardt’s confirmation process this year was stickier. Democrats raised ethics concerns dating back to his tenure in the Bush administration, and drilled down into his private sector lobbying career, which they warned could undermine his impartiality at Interior. Bernhardt’s supporters, though, call him an experienced and knowledgable nominee for the position, noting his work on an array of issues within Interior’s portfolio, including energy development, conservation and tribal affairs...more