mr. chairman , i yield myself 2 minutes . 
mr. chairman , section 978 creates two new senate-confirmed assistant secretary positions within the department of energy . 
this change would increase the total number of senate-confirmed assistant secretaries in the department from six to eight . 
the department of energy has been plagued by management problems for years . 
since 1990 gao has designated contract management at doe as a high-risk area for waste and mismanagement . 
a recently released gao report requested by the committee on government reform confirms that doe contract management should remain on the gao high-risk list . 
additionally , the doe inspector general has reported for years that the department is not doing enough to protect its facilities and materials from threats to our national security . 
while the issues that these proposed assistant secretaries would be responsible for no doubt are important issues , adding an additional layer of bureaucracy does not elevate the issue . 
doe management will not improve as a result of adding these new layers . 
in fact , the new position could have the opposite effect by slowing down the decision-making process . 
in addition to adding more unnecessary bureaucracy to the department , this section adds to the ranks over 500 positions in the executive branch that go through the cumbersome senate confirmation process . 
i have yet to be convinced that requiring positions below the secretary level through the confirmation process in the other body yields better candidates or more effective governmental administration . 
our committee on government reform , which has jurisdiction over the federal civil service and therefore the creation of new layers of bureaucracy , unanimously agreed to strike this section from the energy bill when the committee marked up our provisions last week . 
unfortunately , when the broader energy bill was cobbled together before coming to the floor , the provision was not only reinserted , it was added to by creating two new assistant secretaries rather than just one . 
based on conversations with my colleague that support the creation of these new positions , this is an issue that i pledge to work with them on as the bill moves through the conference . 
of the two new proposed positions , one is simply an elevation of a preexisting senate-confirmed post within doe , whereas the other is a brand new senate-confirmed position . 
for the time being , i urge my colleagues to support this amendment . 
mr. chairman , i reserve the balance of my time . 
