A Glimpse At President-Elect Joe Biden's Recent Cabinet Nominations
Among the preparations that any president-elect in the world should take is appointing his or her trusted officials. Recently elected United States President Joe Biden, though news reports are saying he is currently a projected winner, will also have to go through such a process.
President-elect Joe Biden's nominations of his officials have reportedly started. He has reportedly tapped California attorney general Xavier Becerra as the health secretary. The latter is a defender of the Affordable Care Act, and should the reports be true, he will be in the leading role to oversee the coronavirus response of the Biden administration.
Once the Senate confirms, the 62-year-old Becerra will be the first Latino to administer the Department of Health and Human Services, a $1-trillion-plus agency with 80,000 workers and a portfolio including vaccines and drugs, and the agency leading the medical research and health insurance programs that cover over 130 million Americans.
There are more nominations that the president-elect reportedly has moved forward with. According to the New York Post, Joe Biden has also selected Rochelle Walensky, the chief of infectious diseases at Massachusetts General Hospital as the person to administer the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
She will succeed Robert Redfield in leading the agency from March 2018.
Biden has also reportedly nominated various Harvard affiliates to serve as members of the cabinet, according to The Harvard Crimson. These include former assistant professor Janet L. Yellen, Harvard college alumni Vivek H. Murthy and Antony J. Blinken, and Medical School professor Rochelle P. Walensky.
Yellen is serving as the U.S. treasury secretary, should be confirmed. She has served as the chair of the Federal Reserve Board between 2014 and 2018, and its vice-chair prior to this, as well as the White House Council of Economic Advisors chair during the Clinton administration.
The Guardian's Joan E. Greve noted how these recent nominations are the "early test of relationship with progressives."
She wrote, "Now, with Trump defeated, the president-elect's relationship with progressive organizations is entering a new phase, and the groups are closely scrutinizing the president-elect's selections for cabinet and senior staff positions for clues about his agenda."
