Sen. Graham puts hold on Energy nominee

Sen. Lindsey GrahamLindsey Olin Graham McConnell urges Thune to run for reelection amid retirement talk Democrats outraged after Manchin opposes Biden spending bill Manchin says he will not vote for Build Back Better: 'This is a no' MORE (R-S.C.) is putting a procedural hold on President Obama’s pick to run the Energy Department (DOE), an aide told The Hill on Tuesday.

Graham is blocking Ernest MonizErnest Jeffrey Moniz OVERNIGHT ENERGY: Supreme Court declines to hear challenge to Obama marine monument designation | Interior reverses course on tribal ownership of portion of Missouri river | White House climate adviser meets with oil and gas companies Moniz: Texas blackouts show need to protect infrastructure against climate change The Hill's Morning Report - Biden: Back to the future on immigration, Afghanistan, Iran MORE until he receives answers about how the nominee for energy secretary will handle a nuclear waste disposal program in South Carolina.

Sen. Ron Wyden

Ronald (Ron) Lee Wyden Manchin told White House last week he would back some version of billionaire tax: report Democrats look to scale back Biden bill to get it passed Senate Democrats press for info on nursing home boosters MORE (D-Ore.), who chairs the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, told The Hill in the Capitol on Tuesday that he "was not aware of any hold," explaining he understood Graham has a meeting with Moniz scheduled for Wednesday.

Moniz, a physicist who runs the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Energy Initiative, is expected to eventually earn confirmation from the full Senate. Wyden said he has been talking to Senate Majority Leader Harry ReidHarry Mason Reid GOP steps up flirtation with Manchin Democrats descend into finger-pointing after Build Back Better implodes Las Vegas airport renamed to honor Harry Reid MORE (D-Nev.) "continuously" to get a full Senate vote on Moniz "as expeditiously as possible."

But Graham’s concerns about the future of the Mixed Oxide Fuel (MOX) program at the Savannah River Site in Aiken, S.C., will delay a vote.

The project would convert weapons-grade plutonium into fuel for commercial nuclear reactors. Moniz would oversee the program if confirmed, as DOE manages the nation’s nuclear weapons stockpile.

But the MOX program, slated to be operational by 2017, is running a decade behind its scheduled 2007 opening. At an estimated $4.8 billion price tag, it’s also three times costlier than initially projected.

To address the cost overruns, the DOE and the White House brokered a deal in February to slash the program’s budget by 75 percent.

That has alarmed Graham and Sen. Tim ScottTimothy (Tim) Eugene Scott The Hill's 12:30 Report - Presented by Facebook - Supreme Court allows lawsuits against Texas abortion ban Rapper French Montana talks opioid epidemic, immigration on Capitol Hill How expanded credit data can help tackle inequities MORE (R-S.C.), who cast the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee’s lone vote opposing Moniz’s nomination earlier this month.