Michael Collins

USA TODAY

WASHINGTON — Former Texas governor Rick Perry expressed regret Thursday for saying he wanted to abolish the Energy Department, an agency that President-elect Donald Trump has now tapped him to lead.

“My past statements made over five years ago about abolishing the Department of Energy do not reflect my current thinking,” Perry said during his confirmation hearing. “In fact, after being briefed on so many of the vital functions of the Department of Energy, I regret recommending its elimination.”

Perry, who served 14 years as Texas governor and twice ran unsuccessfully for president, famously said during a presidential debate in late 2011 that he wanted to eliminate three agencies, but he could recall only two of them. The Energy Department is the one he forgot.

At Thursday’s hearing, Perry said he has learned a great deal about the department’s work after speaking several times with the agency’s employees, the current secretary, Ernest Moniz, and his predecessors.

“If confirmed, I will enter this role excited and passionate about advancing the core missions of the DOE,” he told the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee.

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A longtime skeptic of climate change, Perry also indicated that his thinking on the topic may be evolving.

“I believe the climate is changing,” he said. “I believe some of it is naturally occurring, but some of it is also caused by manmade activity.”

The question, he said, is how to address climate change “in a thoughtful way” that doesn’t compromise economic growth, the affordability of energy or American jobs.

Perry’s confirmation hearing, which lasted more than three hours, came amid reports that Trump’s transition team is looking to drastically cut funding for a number of federal agencies. Funding for the Energy Department’s nuclear physics and advanced scientific computing research would reportedly be rolled back to 2008 levels and other offices would be eliminated.

Responding to questions about those proposed cuts, Perry said he doesn’t know if those reports are true. But he said he believes that moving forward on supercomputing is important and that “I will be in the room advocating” for “sound science.”

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Perry also sought to quiet the controversy over reports that Trump’s transition team circulated a questionnaire asking for the names of individual Energy Department employees and contractors who worked on climate change issues. The questionnaire raised concerns that Trump’s team may be targeting workers involved in implementing the Obama administration’s policies.

Perry stressed that the questionnaire was circulated before he become the Energy secretary nominee.

“I didn’t approve it — I don’t approve it,” he told the committee’s top Democrat, Sen. Maria Cantwell of Washington. “I don’t need that information. I don’t want that information. That is not how I manage.”

Perry, who is not a scientist as his two predecessors have been, stressed several times during the hearing that he believes his experience as Texas governor has helped prepare him to lead the Energy Department.

Texas is the nation’s leading energy-producing state — not only in oil and gas, but also wind, he said. He promised to advocate an “all-of-the-above approach” to energy production that would not only help the economy but also protect the environment.

“I have a record of doing that,” he said.

The committee’s chairwoman, Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, said she doesn’t believe someone needs to be a scientist to run the department. “What we need is a good manager,” she said.

Perry also pledged to modernize the nation’s nuclear stockpile and carefully dispose of nuclear waste.

He declined to say whether the government should revive the stalled plan to store radioactive waste at Nevada’s Yucca Mountain, but he stressed the need for “a productive conversation” with governors and citizens in states that are nuclear waste repositories. The time has come for the government to look for alternatives and make a commitment to finding interim or long-term storage for nuclear waste, he said.

In one of the hearing’s most humorous moments, Sen. Al Franken, D-Minn., recalled that he and Perry had met in his office and asked if Perry enjoyed their exchange.

“I hope you are as much fun on the dais as you were on that couch,” Perry said, causing the hearing room to erupt into laughter.

Perry quickly asked for permission to rephrase his answer and added, “I think we’ve found our Saturday Night Live soundbite.”

The committee could vote as early as Friday on Perry's nomination, Murkowski said after the hearing.