Floor Statements

Mr. President, I can clearly tell you that it is a real honor to be addressing you, addressing my address on the Senate floor. Also, it is a real honor from the standpoint of being the new kid on the block. You know, you got several new kids now, but it is a real honor to be here and be with you.

I want to tell you just one thing about me real quick. I am all about the truth and, today, what I say to you will be just that. I challenge the media from time to time and say: Find something that knowingly I have told you is not true. And they can't do it. Now I make plenty of mistakes, but I speak just the truth.

So I am here today not to waste anybody's time. You know, I really truly will never do that. I absolutely when I speak, I hope that others will listen because I am speaking from the heart, and I am speaking just purely the truth.

Doug Burgum is a really special man. His wife Kathryn, absolutely a wonderful lady. I know them well. It is a great man and a great family.

I can tell you just this: If you are looking for a Secretary of the Interior that is a smart guy, a super experienced guy, a compassionate guy, a guy that absolutely has unbelievable knowledge, Doug Burgum is the guy. That is all there is to it.

You know, being the Secretary of the Interior, I know you wear lots and lots and lots of hats. You look after lands and Tribes, and you are really, truly the doorkeeper of God's gifts.

Absolutely, from my standpoint, anybody and everybody that knows Jim Justice, knows that I absolutely love the outdoors, and I truly, absolutely am a person that gets it, gets it all about God's gifts, gets it about the beauty of all of our lands in all of our country all across all of our lands, gets it about nature.

I can promise you, Doug Burgum sees just these things because I see them. He not only sees them, but he hears them. And not only does he hear them, but it touches his soul.

You know, Doug Burgum has seen the brilliance of the red on a scarlet tanager on a real crispy early morning as the Sun comes up. He has heard a wild turkey thunder as it gobbles, and he has seen the majesty of a great big bull elk, and he has seen the discipline of a bird dog.

You know, many dogs when they are hunting or whatever, they chase after and they bark. But a bird dog runs its heart out, finally finds the bird, and freezes and stops. The discipline of a bird dog is something really, really special.

Many people don't see all these things, but Doug Burgum does. And being the Secretary of the Interior with all of our millions of acres of lands, we expect that of that man, and he gets it. He truly, truly gets it.

Also, way beyond that, he will protect our ability to be able to hunt. He absolutely will protect our lands because they touch his soul. It is really, really special.

He also knows something about energy. He has vast, vast knowledge about energy. He has got to protect our natural resources. So just step back and think: Here is a man for whom, really, nature and the beauty of our lands touch his soul. He will protect that.

Absolutely, on top of that, we have an energy crisis in this country like you can't imagine. West Virginia knows energy, and Jim Justice knows energy. Doug Burgum knows it, too, and President Trump knows that absolutely, of everything, energy is the most important of all today. It solves inflation; it provides for our defense. It

is absolutely the key--the answer--to everything. Now, I promise you that President Trump knows this, and Doug Burgum knows this.

I can tell you, from the bottom of my heart--and I hope everyone will listen to just this--if we don't get a handle on our energy situation in this country, a year and a half from today, we will be deciding between homes and jobs. We will be deciding between homes and opportunity for all of our people. We will be deciding between homes and industry. We will have the biggest crisis that you can ever imagine. And it will absolutely come down to just this: Are we going to give all of the advancements--are we going to give China every opportunity under the Sun or, are we going to have those opportunities?

I also believe just this: In this world, as a businessman, I have never seen a situation where you can purely cut your way out of a mess. I have never seen that. Does that mean we don't mind the store? Of course, we do. Does that mean we don't cut out unnecessary waste? We had best better. That is all there is to it. We had better mind the store and do what is right in the greatest way imaginable.

But, with all that being said, we have got to grow revenue. We have a $2.5 trillion hole in the bucket. We have got to grow revenue. Well, what is the secret to Emerald City? What is the secret, right now, to Emerald City? It is the energy--it abounds all around us--and the United States of America could dominate as an energy leader throughout the entire world. It is absolutely ridiculous for us to blow our own legs off while, in China, they are building coal-fired power plants absolutely faster than you can possibly imagine, and the energy that they produce to fuel those coal-fired power plants is filthy compared to our energy.

I would also say one other thing: You had better always protect the Eastern Coalfields because, if you were to have an emergency--a real, real emergency--our eastern coalfields could bail us out. Two-thirds of the population is within a truck's driving distance of the eastern coalfields. They are really, really important. Doug Burgum gets all of this.

Absolutely, with all in me, I am amazed at President Trump's nominees. You just think of who he has come up with as his nominees. This is a great, great nominee, and I support him wholeheartedly, in every single way.

I would say just this: As impressed as I am with President Trump's nominees and as impressed as I am with Doug Burgum, I would just say just this: In my world, the pick of the litter is Doug Burgum, and absolutely, we ought to unanimously--unanimously--confirm his nomination.