CABINET/ENERGY/RICK PERRY: "Rick Perry, President-elect Donald Trump’s pick to head the Energy Department, used his opening statement at his Senate confirmation Thursday to back away from his biggest potential problem: his earlier calls to abolish that department.
Acknowledging that he had vowed to eliminate the Energy Department when he ran unsuccessfully for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination, the former four-term governor of Texas said those campaign pledges 'do not reflect my current thinking.' "
– “Rick Perry tells Senate panel he’s ready to lead the Energy Department, which he once wanted to eliminate,” The Los Angeles Times, Jan 19, 2017, W.J. Hennigan, 1/19/2017