Biden's Cabinet and administration picks.

One of President-elect Joe Biden’s very first tasks will be filling the top positions in his White House and Cabinet. In contrast to President Trump’s notably White and male Cabinet, Biden has promised to be “a president for all Americans” and build a Cabinet that reflects its diversity.

In making his selections Biden is looking to appease factions of the Democratic Party from moderates to progressives and longtime allies to newer faces. Cabinet positions — with the exception of the vice president and White House chief of staff — will also require approval from a Republican Senate, unless Democrats can win two Senate race runoffs in early January.

Once confirmed, they will be instrumental in carrying out Biden’s goals and setting the tenor of his presidency. We’re tracking the people who Biden has already named and the top contenders for unfilled roles.

Secretary of Agriculture
Currently: Sonny Perdue

The Trump administration has authorized tens of billions of dollars in direct payments to American ranchers and commodity row crop farmers. Federal payments to farmers hit a record $46 billion in 2020, with trade mitigation payments and pandemic relief flowing swiftly to President Trump’s rural base in the South and Midwest. Trump’s other signature USDA initiatives have been regulatory policies aimed at reducing the number of Americans eligible for food assistance.

[Tom Vilsack faces new challenges as he returns to old job]

It is likely Biden would reverse erosions of SNAP and other food assistance programs, as well as restoring more rigorous school nutrition standards that were the centerpiece of Michelle Obama's Let's Move! effort. Biden has said he would support beginning farmers, pursue “smarter pro-worker and pro-family-farmer…policies,” and reward sustainable farming practices that reduce atmospheric carbon.


White House chief of staff
Currently: Mark Meadows

The chief of staff is often considered the president's gatekeeper, shaping his schedule and presidential access. They serve as a close adviser and also oversee White House staffing. This position does not require Senate confirmation.


Central Intelligence Agency director
Currently: Gina Haspel

The Central Intelligence Agency clandestinely gathers information around the world, primarily through a network of human sources. It has also played a key role in U.S. counterterrorism operations. Trump has often assailed the agency as a den of “deep state” conspirators who tried to undermine his election in 2016 and his presidency. Biden is expected to appoint a director who emphasizes the agency’s core mission and invigorates efforts to collect intelligence on nation-states, primarily Russia, China, Iran and North Korea.


Secretary of Commerce
Currently: Wilbur Ross

Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross led the department to take an active role in President Trump’s trade wars. He championed an expansive interpretation of U.S. trade law, enabling Trump to impose tariffs on imported steel and aluminum in response to alleged national security threats.
The so-called Section 232 tariffs were deeply controversial and alienated major U.S. trading partners, including Canada.Commerce also was a key player in the president’s confrontation with China. The department put prominent Chinese corporations such as Huawei on an export blacklist, all but severing them from critical American-made components, an important step toward decoupling the world’s two largest economies.The Biden administration is unlikely to immediately roll back the Trump tariffs. But the department may put a greater emphasis on export promotion and, through its management of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, take a more proactive stance on climate change. Commerce, customarily considered a business community outpost, is unlikely to be among the first department jobs filled and the ultimate pick may depend on the demographic and political makeup of the rest of the Cabinet.


Secretary of Defense
Currently: Christopher C. Miller (acting)

A Biden presidency is expected to strike a relatively steady course at the Pentagon, seeking to restore stability in military decision-making while reemphasizing alliances and pressing ahead with efforts to respond to China’s rise.Analysts expect Biden to continue troop cuts in Afghanistan, where violence is surging as diplomats seek to advance peace talks. But while the Trump administration has sent mixed messages about whether it will withdraw all troops in coming months in line with a U.S.-Taliban deal, Biden’s campaign has suggested it would opt to leave a small force to counter al-Qaeda and the Islamic State.

[Gen. Lloyd Austin, defense secretary nominee, brings deep combat experience and a connection with Biden]

Promising a break with often chaotic foreign policy, the new administration is expected to strike a less adversarial stance against Iran, which Trump has depicted as a chief American adversary.


Council of Economic Advisers chair
Currently: Tyler Beck Goodspeed (acting)

Under Trump, the chair of the three-member Council of Economic Advisers was removed from the president's Cabinet. Biden will reinstate the position, filled by the president's chief economist, to the Cabinet.


Secretary of Education
Currently: Betsy Devos

Under Secretary Betsy DeVos, the Education Department has rolled back some civil rights protections as well as Obama-era efforts to hold for-profit colleges accountable for poor outcomes. She has promoted alternatives to public schools and tried to slash federal funding for education.
Biden is expected to reverse all of that, with more money for K-12 and higher education, new and revived civil rights protections and a focus on racial equity.

[Focus on union leader as Biden searches for education secretary]

Biden has said he will name a public school educator as secretary of Education, a stab at DeVos, who had no experience with public schools. Many expect that to be someone from the K-12 world. Among those talked about for the job include a handful of big-city school superintendents, such as Sonja Santelises from Baltimore, or a state superintendent such as Tony Thurmond of California or Angelica Infante-Green of Rhode Island.


Secretary of Energy
Currently: Dan Brouillette

The Energy Department has been one of Trump's numerous fronts in rolling back environmental regulations. Under Biden, the department would likely move to tighten energy efficiency standards across industries and products and invest heavily in renewable energy. During the campaign, Biden introduced a $2 trillion plan to fight climate change that included pledges to eliminate carbon emissions from the electric sector by 2035, impose stricter gas mileage standards and fund investments to weatherize millions of homes and commercial buildings.


Environmental Protection Agency administrator
Currently: Andrew Wheeler

Biden is planning for a complete reversal of recent federal environmental policy after the Trump administration undertook a dramatic rollback in environmental protections. Over 100 environmental safeguards were removed across the past four years. Biden plans to impose stricter environmental standards on industry, a job that would be overseen by his next EPA administrator.

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Currently: Alex Azar

The Department of Health and Human Services, one of the government’s largest, has been the Trump administration’s main vehicle to weaken the Affordable Care Act and shift health policy in a more conservative direction in other ways. The department has sought to let states require some people on Medicaid to work or prepare for jobs, a move blocked by the courts. It has restricted federal funding of research that uses human fetal tissue.

[Biden picks Xavier Becerra as nominee for health and human services secretary]

Though a Republican Congress failed to repeal the ACA, HHS took many steps though executive action. It slashed funding to help boost enrollment in the insurance marketplaces created under the law, ended one type of subsidy for insurers, and widened the availability of inexpensive health plans that can bypass the law’s rules for insurance benefits and consumer protections.In contrast, the ACA is the basis of plans President-elect Biden has advocated for helping more Americans get affordable health coverage. He says that federal insurance subsidies should expand to help more middle-class families. He wants ACA health plans to be given to poor residents of a dozen states that have not expanded their Medicaid programs under the law. Biden also has proposed lowering from 65 years old to 60 the age for people to join Medicare, the vast federal insurance programs for older Americans. All these changes would require Congress to adopt them.


Secretary of Homeland Security
Currently: Chad Wolf (acting)

Under President Trump, the Department of Homeland Security’s focus shifted notably from counterterrorism to immigration and border enforcement. Trump turned the nation’s third-largest federal entity into a powerful tool of domestic policy and electoral politics, using DHS to carry out a wide-ranging immigration crackdown and quell street protests in American cities.

[Biden picks Alejandro Mayorkas, a son of Jewish Cuban refugees, to lead the Department of Homeland Security]

Created after the Sept. 11 attacks to reassure the American public and project stability, DHS went through unprecedented leadership turmoil under Trump, with five secretaries in four years. Biden is expected to try to stabilize the department by returning its focus to a broad range of threats, including counterterrorism, cyber threats and the pandemic response.



Secretary of Housing and Urban Development
Currently: Ben Carson

Under the Trump administration, the agency gutted Obama-era fair lending and fair housing laws. The new secretary is expected to restore these laws and be a key player in carrying out Biden's campaign promises to expand affordable housing, increase the availability of Section 8 vouchers and tackle racial bias in housing.


Secretary of the Interior
Currently: David Bernhardt

Under Trump, the Interior Department opened public lands and waters, including the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, for fossil fuel extraction and logging. Biden pledges to reverse those efforts, aiming to restrict fossil fuel exploration on public lands and waters and expand conservation efforts.

[With historic picks, Biden puts environmental justice front and center]

Westerners have occupied the post for more than 120 years, with the single exception of Rogers Morton, who served under Presidents Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford.


Attorney General, Department of Justice
Currently: William Barr

The Justice Department in the Trump administration most notably drew criticism for its leaders apparently bending to political pressure from Trump and getting involved in criminal cases involving the president's friends. Biden's Justice Department would probably seek to change that, restoring the department's historic independence on criminal matters.

[Biden’s attorney general search narrows]

Biden's Justice Department also is likely to focus more on forcing reforms at police departments through court and other actions. The Justice Department in the Trump administration had largely abandoned those efforts, positioning itself as defending the police from unfair criticism.


Secretary of Labor
Currently: Eugene Scalia

Under Trump, the Department of Labor has taken a largely employer- and industry-friendly approach that has frustrated worker advocates, labor unions and Democrats, and drawn particularly vocal outcry during the pandemic.The DOL passed rules that exempted large numbers of workers from the paid sick leave requirements in the Families First Coronavirus Response Act, and issued strict guidelines for unemployment insurance payouts to gig and self-employed workers that many saw as restrictive.

Its workplace safety division, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, has declined to institute ironclad safety standards for the coronavirus, issuing only recommendations for employers instead of an enforceable set of rules.Before the pandemic, the Department took moves to restrict the ability of workers told hold joint employers accountable for wage and hour violations, and reduced the number of workers who were eligible for mandatory overtime payments.


Office of Management and Budget director
Currently: Russ Vought

The White House budget office acts as the nerve center of the government, an elite career workforce that prepares and helps administer the annual spending plan and helps set fiscal and personnel policy for federal agencies.


Director of National Intelligence
Currently: John Ratcliffe

The director of national intelligence serves as the president’s primary intelligence adviser and leader of the U.S. intelligence community. The DNI historically hasn’t been a political role, but under Trump, it has been held twice by loyalists who used their authority to advance Trump’s claims that he was the target of a conspiracy by intelligence officials. Under Biden, the DNI is expected to revert to the norm and act as a manager and setter of priorities for the agency.


Secretary of State
Currently: Mike Pompeo

In the Trump administration, scores of veteran diplomats left after their loyalty to Trump was questioned and career employees were replaced by political appointees.

[Biden picks Antony Blinken as secretary of state, emphasizing experience and the foreign policy establishment]

Under Biden, the State Department is expected to be at the forefront of reversing some key Trump-era policies and restoring the centrality of diplomacy in foreign policy and battered U.S. credibility. Priorities include rebuilding strained alliances with Europe, returning to a more balanced approach to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, corralling global efforts to combat climate change and possibly changing course with Iran if the U.S. reenters the nuclear treaty Trump abandoned. They also are expected to maintain pressure on China over human rights and trade issues.


U.S. Trade Representative
Currently: Robert Lighthizer

Normally a low-profile outpost, the position of chief trade negotiator became one of the Trump administration’s most consequential jobs. Ambassador Robert E. Lighthizer, an experienced trade attorney, was the intellectual muscle behind the president’s “America First” sentiments, driving a protectionist revolution in U.S. policy.With USTR’s help, Trump imposed tariffs on solar panels, washing machines, steel and aluminum along with much of what Americans import from China. Lighthizer, a fierce critic of the World Trade Organization, hammered out new agreements with South Korea, Mexico and Canada, and China. But he failed to achieve Trump’s goal of narrowing the U.S. trade deficit and left many U.S. allies irritated by his uncompromising stance.

[Biden selects Katherine Tai as U.S. trade representative]

Biden has said he plans no early reversal of the Trump tariffs, though that could come later. He also plans investments in infrastructure, education and manufacturing before seeking new trade deals. And he has proposed a $400 billion “Buy America” initiative, which could require renegotiating some existing accords.

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Secretary of Transportation
Currently: Elaine Chao

The Trump administration issued a set of weaker carbon dioxide emissions standards for cars and SUVs and took a largely hands off approach to dealing with new technologies like automated vehicles. The fight against climate change will shape the Biden administration’s transportation policies. It is expected to stiffen emissions standards once again, and promote the adoption of electric vehicles.

[Biden says Buttigieg will play key role in rebuilding country after pandemic]

A grand bargain in Congress on infrastructure spending eluded the Trump administration, and reaching a spending deal to repair road and bridges and expand access to transit is expected to be another major focus for the new administration.


Secretary of Treasury
Currently: Steve Mnuchin

The Biden administration is expected to prioritize a massive stimulus package to shore up the economy’s shaky recovery. Biden also campaigned on tax increases for businesses and some of the wealthiest Americans — issues that the next secretary will have to pursue.


United Nations ambassador
Currently: Kelly Craft

Under Trump, the U.N. ambassador was removed from the president's Cabinet, as part of a larger retreat from diplomacy and the world stage. Biden will reinstate the ambassador to the Cabinet as his administration aims to reverse Trump's "America First" foreign policy.


Secretary of Veterans Affairs
Currently: Robert Wilkie

Veterans were a crucial constituency for Trump, who expanded their options to receive private health care outside the VA system. Biden, while not pledging to halt private care, has said he would work to build up the government-run system by filling thousands of vacancies for doctors, nurses and other medical staff.


White House climate coordinator

The White House climate coordinator will focus on domestic climate policy and oversee a broad interagency effort to leverage the federal government’s powers to cut greenhouse gas emissions. While traditional players such as EPA and the Interior and Energy departments will regulate climate pollutants directly, departments including Treasury, Transportation and Agriculture will also use policy to try to tackle climate change.


Special envoy for climate
Biden pledged to reverse Trump's withdrawal from the Paris climate agreement and to encourage other nations to increase their commitments. During the campaign, Biden introduced a $2 trillion plan to eliminate carbon emissions from the electric sector by 2035.

[Biden names John Kerry as presidential climate envoy]

Biden will also elevate a special envoy for climate, a position outside the Cabinet that would not require Senate confirmation and will focus on foreign policy.


Coronavirus coordinator

Combatting the coronavirus will be at the top of Biden's agenda after assuming the presidency. The coronavirus coordinator will oversee the administration's response and coordinate across federal agencies to increase testing and distribute vaccines.


National Security Adviser
Currently: Robert C. O'Brien

The national security adviser is a gatekeeper of sorts, coordinating the views of the military, the State Department and the intelligence community and helping the president understand the policy choices available. Trump has rarely sought or heeded the counsel of his national security adviser. President-elect Joe Biden is expected to choose a policy expert with whom he has had a long working relationship.


White House press secretary
Currently: Kayleigh McEnany

The press secretary is the mouthpiece of the administration, interacting with the media and the White House press corps to deliver the administration's updates and perspectives. This position does not require Senate confirmation.


Senior White House roles

Advisers and strategists play a key role in shaping the president's agenda. Under Trump, notable figures included Stephen Miller, Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump. These positions do not require Senate confirmation.

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Jimdamick said:

Do you know what is disturbing & pisses me off?
It's that the "Progressives" are screaming that this is simply a redux of the Obama Admininstration, like that's a bad thing.
That's exactly what this country need's right now, a revival/continuation of "Hope & Change"

View attachment 4774985

1st things 1st AOC & "the Squad" & the other Progressives.
Regain & maintain power 1st
We aren't there yet, not by a long shot.
Chill out a little & stop throwing bombs that only help the Pukes & damage the credibility of Biden.
As the saying goes "Don't cut off your nose to spite your face"

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Jimdamick said:

Do you know what is disturbing & pisses me off?
It's that the "Progressives" are screaming that this is simply a redux of the Obama Admininstration, like that's a bad thing.
That's exactly what this country need's right now, a revival/continuation of "Hope & Change"

View attachment 4774985

1st things 1st AOC & "the Squad" & the other Progressives.
Regain & maintain power 1st
We aren't there yet, not by a long shot.
Chill out a little & stop throwing bombs that only help the Pukes & damage the credibility of Biden.
As the saying goes "Don't cut off your nose to spite your face"

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hanimmal said:

Ive mostly just heard commentary about how progressives are upset more than actual progressives being upset.

But I totally agree with you, the Democratic party needs to keep it's eye on 2022/2024 (after Georgia runoffs). It is going to take a while to get rid of these trolls that the Trump and the Republican party stuffed in government roles.

What better way than to tap the top talent from the last administration that won't need to learn the ropes before digging into the mess Trump is leaving our economy/foreign relations/security/etc in.

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hanimmal said:

Ive mostly just heard commentary about how progressives are upset more than actual progressives being upset.

But I totally agree with you, the Democratic party needs to keep it's eye on 2022/2024 (after Georgia runoffs). It is going to take a while to get rid of these trolls that the Trump and the Republican party stuffed in government roles.

What better way than to tap the top talent from the last administration that won't need to learn the ropes before digging into the mess Trump is leaving our economy/foreign relations/security/etc in.

Click to expand...

WILMINGTON, Del. (AP) — President-elect Joe Biden is set to introduce Miguel Cardona as his pick for education secretary on Wednesday, choosing Connecticut’s education chief and a lifelong champion of public schools to lead the department.

The selection delivers on Biden’s promise to nominate someone with experience working in public education and would fulfill his goal of installing an education chief who stands in sharp contrast to Secretary Betsy DeVos.

Unlike DeVos, a school choice advocate whom Biden says is an opponent of public schools, Cardona is a product of them, starting when he entered kindergarten unable to speak English.

Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris will hold an event with Cardona in Wilmington, Delaware, where he’s expected to speak about his background and hopes for the department.

In announcing his nomination, Biden said Cardona would offer America “an experienced and dedicated public school teacher leading the way at the Department of Education.”

“He will help us address systemic inequities, tackle the mental health crisis in our education system, give educators a well-deserved raise, ease the burden of education debt, and secure high-quality, universal pre-K for every three- and four-year-old in the country,” Biden said in a statement.

Cardona, 45, was raised in a housing project in Meriden, Connecticut, and went through the city’s public schools before returning to work as a fourth-grade teacher in the district in 1998. At age 28, he had become the youngest principal in the state before working his way up to assistant superintendent of the district.

Cardona was appointed to the top education post in Connecticut just months before the COVID-19 pandemic broke out in March. When schools moved to remote learning, he hurried to deliver more than 100,000 laptops to students across the state. Since then, however, he has increasingly pressed schools to reopen, saying it’s harmful to keep students at home.

If confirmed, his first task will be to expand that effort across the nation. Biden has pledged to have a majority of U.S. schools reopened by the end of his first 100 days in office. He is promising new federal guidelines on school opening decisions, and a “large-scale” Education Department effort to identify and share the best ways to teach during a pandemic.

Cardona’s position on reopening schools has sometimes put him at odds with not only teachers unions, which have called for school buildings to be closed until safety measures are met, but also with some parents who say schools should be ordered to open.

But despite their occasional conflict with him, a coalition of Connecticut education unions supported his candidacy as Biden’s education secretary. Cardona was also backed by the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, which has pressed Biden to appoint more Latinos to Cabinet positions.

Beyond the pandemic, Biden’s education secretary will also be tasked with reversing an array of policies enacted by DeVos. Biden has vowed to revoke Trump administration policies including DeVos’ new rules on the handling of campus sexual assault cases, and he promised to restore several Obama-era rules that DeVos revoked or rewrote.

Biden’s education plans also include measures that align with Cardona’s interests. The Democrat has pledged to triple federal Title I funding for the neediest schools and has proposed free preschool as well as policies meant to diversify the nation’s teaching force.

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hanimmal said:

https://apnews.com/article/joe-biden-connecticut-health-betsy-devos-coronavirus-pandemic-124ba723f74b3399e471ea490a3fa9dfView attachment 4775930

View attachment 4775931

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WASHINGTON (AP) — President-elect Joe Biden has tapped Pennsylvania Health Secretary Rachel Levine to be his assistant secretary of health, leaving her poised to become the first openly transgender federal official to be confirmed by the U.S. Senate.

A pediatrician and former Pennsylvania physician general, Levine was appointed to her current post by Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf in 2017, making her one of the few transgender people serving in elected or appointed positions nationwide. She won past confirmation by the Republican-majority Pennsylvania Senate and has emerged as the public face of the state’s response to the coronavirus pandemic.

“Dr. Rachel Levine will bring the steady leadership and essential expertise we need to get people through this pandemic — no matter their zip code, race, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, or disability — and meet the public health needs of our country in this critical moment and beyond,” Biden said in a statement. “She is a historic and deeply qualified choice to help lead our administration’s health efforts.”

A graduate of Harvard and of Tulane Medical School, Levine is president of the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials. She’s written in the past on the opioid crisis, medical marijuana, adolescent medicine, eating disorders and LGBTQ medicine.

Biden and his transition team have already begun negotiating with members of Congress, promoting speedy passage of the president-elect’s $1.9 trillion planto bring the coronavirus, which has killed nearly 400,000 people in the United States, under control. It seeks to enlist federal emergency personnel to run mass vaccination centers and provide 100 immunization shots in his administration’s first 100 days while using government spending to stimulate the pandemic-hammered economy,

Biden also says that, in one of his first acts as president, he’ll ask Americans to wear masks for 100 days to slow the virus’ spread.

Levine joins Biden’s Health and Human Services secretary nominee Xavier Becerra, a Latino politician who rose from humble beginnings to serve in Congress and as California’s attorney general.

Businessman Jeff Zients is Biden’s coronavirus response coordinator, while Biden picked infectious-disease specialist Rochelle Walensky to run the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Vivek Murthy as surgeon general and Yale epidemiologist Marcella Nunez-Smith to head a working group to ensure fair and equitable distribution of vaccines and treatments.

The government’s top infectious disease expert, Dr. Anthony Fauci, will also work closely with the Biden administration.

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hanimmal said:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2021/02/04/joe-biden-live-updates/#link-GYMETFLXYZHQVDLIQ3VKCU3HLM
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[QUOTE}
Race and inequality in the jobs market were in the spotlight during Boston Mayor Marty J. Walsh’s confirmation hearing for labor secretary in the Biden administration.

Walsh (D) was asked repeatedly about disparities for women and people of color in issues like unemployment during the coronavirus crisis, wages and earnings and health care by members on the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee.

“We are dealing with a system of systemic racism that we have to continue to address,” Walsh said. “It’s not simply just throwing fancy words out there, but in policies, but it’s actually doing the work, rolling up our sleeves.”

Senators also asked Walsh about other hot-button labor issues like the push for a $15 federal minimum wage, which Walsh said he supported as a mayor, worker safety enforcement at the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, and policing.

Walsh’s confirmation is expected, with Republicans such as Richard Burr (N.C.), the ranking member on the committee, saying he would support it.

Some of the biggest signs of disagreement emerged over the minimum wage proposal, which Biden included as part of his push for a $1.9 trillion stimulus plan, leading to a colorful exchange with new Kansas Sen. Roger Marshall (R) who asked him how much he paid for his last cup of coffee in Boston. (Massachusetts’ legislature passed a $15 minimum wage in 201.

It was $1.75, but still higher than the going price at gas stations in Kansas Marshall said.

“You know, I’m trying to get at is how can we have a nationwide minimum wage of $15, which frankly would kill a lot of jobs in Kansas. So I’m all for it if you want $15 an hour in Boston, knock your socks off. But in Kansas that would be a pretty big wage, a job killing wage.”

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