Watch live: Senate confirmation hearings for Trump’s Cabinet continue Thursday

On Thursday, just a day away from Inauguration Day — Senate confirmation hearings for President-elect Donald Trump’s top Cabinet picks are still underway. Former Texas Gov. Rick Perry for secretary of energy, will come before the Senate committee at 9:30 a.m. ET and Steven Mnuchin for secretary of transportation, at 10 a.m. ET. 

Watch Perry's hearing here:

Watch Mnuchin's hearing here:

Here's some background on today's nominees:

Energy: Rick Perry, 66

The former Texas governor, a onetime rival of Trump for the Republican presidential nomination, once vowed to eliminate the department he has now been asked to run. Perry, a US Air Force veteran who grew up in a farming family, took part this autumn in the latest season of ABC's "Dancing with the Stars."

"Trump selected Perry last month to serve as his secretary of energy after a contentious primary season in which the two ran against each other," ABC reports. 

Since then, Perry has praised him, saying "he had produced millions of jobs and lower energy prices when he ran the state between 2000 and 2015," the ABC report says.

Democrats will probably ask Perry about the Keystone XL pipeline, which he has supported, according to ABC.  

Nuclear security is also likely to come up in the hearing, which NPR talks about in a comprehensive profile about Perry here. Perry, who doesn't have a science background, has "questioned the science behind climate change," NPR says.

Treasury: Steven Mnuchin, 53

The Wall Street veteran was a partner at Goldman Sachs before he launched an investment fund backed by Democratic Party supporter George Soros and financed Hollywood blockbusters like "Avatar" and "Suicide Squad."

Mnuchin's banking career is expected to come up, along with questions about "thousands of home foreclosures, and outline his views on taxes and economic policy," USA Today says.

The Los Angeles Times has an in-depth piece about him from November 2016 here. Mnuchin is "an out-of-the box choice for Treasury secretary, having neither served in government nor risen to the top ranks of corporate America. Treasury secretaries appointed by Barack Obama and George W. Bush all worked for the federal government at some point in their careers," the story says. 

Trump picks former Georgia Gov. Sonny Perdue for secretary of agriculture 

Also today, Trump announced he has nominated former Georgia Gov. Sonny Perdue to be US secretary of agriculture, rounding out the president-elect's cabinet picks on the eve of his inauguration.

With his inner circle finalized, Trump's incoming cabinet will feature no Hispanics, the first time since Ronald Reagan's presidency in the 1980s. 

Out of the 21 cabinet-rank positions already nominated by the president-elect, only four are women. One is black and two are Asian-American. 

Perdue, 70, has considerable political experience, having been a state senator for a decade before serving two terms as governor of an agricultural state whose capital Atlanta is a major business hub. He also worked as a veterinarian before becoming a small-business owner.

"Sonny Perdue is going to accomplish great things as secretary of agriculture," Trump said in a statement announcing his pick. "From growing up on a farm to being governor of a big agriculture state, he has spent his whole life understanding and solving the challenges our farmers face, and he is going to deliver big results for all Americans who earn their living off the land."

The nomination of Perdue, which requires confirmation by the US Senate, is the final pick for Trump's 15-member cabinet.

And noteworthy from yesterday's hearings:

(You can review the footage here.) 

Trump's controversial pick to run the Environmental Protection Agency acknowledged Wednesday that human activity affects climate change, but he insisted the extent of that impact remains subject to debate.

Scott Pruitt set out in his Senate confirmation hearing to counter critics who see hin as a climate skeptic intent on rolling back environmental regulations.

"Let me say to you: science tells us that the climate is changing, and that human activity in some manner impacts that change," he told senators.

"The ability to measure with precision the degree and extent of that impact, and what to do about it, are subject to continuing debate and dialogue, and well it should be."

Pruitt, who currently is Oklahoma's attorney general, was among four Trump cabinet nominees in confirmation hearings Wednesday.

The Senate's Republican leadership is pushing for quick confirmation so that Trump will have at least part of his team in place shortly after his inauguration on Friday.

As an ally of the fossil fuel industry who has repeatedly sued the EPA on behalf of Oklahoma utilities, the 48-year-old Pruitt is a particularly controversial choice to head the agency. If confirmed, he would assume control of an agency that under outgoing President Barack Obama was responsible for implementing sweeping environmental regulations governing clean air and water, greenhouse gas emissions and vehicle fuel emissions.

'False paradigm' 

In picking him for the job, Trump said he was confident Pruitt will reverse the agency's "out-of-control anti-energy agenda."

Pruitt brushed off concerns about his connections to energy companies, many of which have contributed to his campaigns or offices in various forms.

"We must reject as a nation the false paradigm that if you're pro-energy, you're anti-environment," Pruitt said. "I utterly reject that narrative."

Opponents scoffed at Trump's suggestion that Pruitt will be a capable environmental steward.

Senate Democrat Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island noted that his state's fisheries have been "crashing" due to climate change.

"I see nothing in your career to give those fishermen any confidence that you will care one bit for their well-being, and not just the well-being of the fossil fuel industry," Whitehouse told Pruitt.

Other Democrats raised concerns about how Pruitt would address mercury pollution from power plants, air quality and lead in US water.

On the campaign trail, Trump often echoed the position of his business-friendly, regulation-averse Republican Party.

In 2012, Trump declared global warming was a hoax "created by and for the Chinese in order to make US manufacturing non-competitive."

While he has moderated that position over the past year to acknowledge that human activity has some connection to climate change, he repeatedly floated the idea of dramatically curbing EPA power.

"Environmental protection, what they do is a disgrace. Every week they come out with new regulations," he said on Fox in October 2015.

Asked who will serve as stewards of the environment, Trump said: "We'll be fine with the environment."