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Biden is already forming a government. Here's what his Cabinet
could look like.
An array of officials, from progressives like Elizabeth Warren to
establishment types like Susan Rice, are seen as likely for key posts.
Joe Biden and Susan Rice
Former National Security Adviser Susan Rice, who made Joe Biden's
short list for vice president, is often mentioned as a potential pick for
secretary of State. | Mike Theiler/Getty Images
By DAVID SIDERS
08/21/2020 04:30 AM EDT
https://www.politico.com/news/2020/08/21/joe-biden-cabinet-picks-397905
Sherrod Brown, the progressive senator from Ohio, says he’s
talking with the Biden campaign about “where he needs to look and who he needs
to look at” as he begins to form a potential administration.
Other people in positions of power, both inside and outside
government, are engaged in similar conversations.
It’s part of an early, behind-the-scenes effort by the Biden
campaign to shape the contours of a government he has pledged would be “the
most progressive administration since FDR.”
Biden’s White House and his Cabinet would likely lean on his
connections from the Obama administration, including institutionalists who are
palatable to centrist Democrats. But in the same way Biden shifted left on
policy in recent months in response to the pandemic, he is also taking advice
from the progressive wing of the party.
Interviews with more than a dozen Democrats familiar with his
transition process describe an effort by his campaign to assemble a center-left
amalgamation of personnel designed to prioritize speed over ideology in
responding to the coronavirus and the resulting economic ruin. Think Susan
Rice, but also Elizabeth Warren. Pete Buttigieg, but also Karen Bass.
“I think those [ideological] distinctions are going to be a little
hard to draw in this administration,” said Matt Bennett, whose center-left
group Third Way, like others, is developing lists of candidates to propose to
Biden’s advisers for sub-Cabinet and other roles.
One Democratic strategist familiar with Biden’s work to form a
government said, “Does it mean that the chief of staff won’t be [longtime Biden
advisers] Ron Klain or Steve Ricchetti or something? No, but it does mean
you’re going to see some unusual suspects in the government, I think.”
Among those advising Biden on the transition are centrist-minded
establishment figures such as Tony Blinken, the former deputy national security
adviser in the Obama-Biden White House, and Lawrence Summers, the ex-Treasury
secretary and bane of progressives who said last week that he will not go into
the administration. Ricchetti, Biden’s former chief of staff, is a former
lobbyist.
Elizabeth Warren
Sen. Elizabeth Warren is widely viewed as a potential Treasury
secretary in a Biden administration. | Samuel Corum/Getty Images
But Biden is also taking economic advice from Warren, Democrats
familiar with the campaign say. She is widely viewed as a potential Treasury
secretary in a Biden administration. It did not go unnoticed when Biden in
April called corporate America “greedy as hell.” He has also proposed raising
the corporate tax rate.
And progressives have been heartened by the composition of his
transition team. Headed by former Sen. Ted Kaufman, a longtime Biden adviser
and Biden’s successor in the Senate, it includes Julie Siegel, who has been a
top Warren adviser, and Gautam Raghavan, chief of staff to Rep. Pramila
Jayapal, co-chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus.
"I think this is about getting seasoned people that are
really qualified to do the job. People with experience, people that are smart
as hell and people that reflect America," Kaufman said in an interview. “A
lot of this isn’t about ideology or anything else. It’s totally about what do
you do with the incredible hollowing out that Trump has done ... so many of the
agencies just are empty, the career people have left.
"You’re going to be walking into a very difficult situation,
and a lot of it’s going to be blocking and tackling.”
One name often mentioned as a potential secretary of State is
Rice, who was Obama’s national security adviser and made Biden's short list for
vice president. Blinken is often mentioned as a potential national security
adviser.
Tony Blinken is often mentioned as a potential pick for national
security adviser. | Getty Images
Warren’s potential selection for Treasury could depend in part on
the balance of the Senate after the November election. If she steps down, her
state’s Republican governor, Charlie Baker, would appoint her replacement — a
Republican, presumably — until a special election. But there are workarounds.
A veteran Democratic strategist close to Biden’s transition team
said that if Warren wants a post, she is “definitely in the Cabinet.” And even
if she isn’t, she's likely to influence Biden’s thinking.
Elsewhere in the Cabinet, Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti, who
endorsed Biden in early January and served on his vice presidential selection
committee, is a likely candidate for transportation or Housing and Urban
Development, among other possible positions. Rep. Karen Bass (D-Calif.),
another finalist for vice president, could be secretary of HUD or Health and
Human Services.
New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham “comes up a lot” in Cabinet
talks, according to one former Biden adviser who remains in contact with Biden
campaign officials. Buttigieg, the former South Bend, Ind., mayor and
presidential contender, is seen as a likely choice for ambassador to the United
Nations or secretary of Veterans Affairs. And Jared Bernstein, a longtime
economic adviser to Biden, is frequently mentioned as a potential chair of
Biden’s Council of Economic Advisors. Bernstein was among the administration
veterans and academics who gave Biden and Harris an economic briefing last
week.
Pete Buttigieg
Former South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg is seen as a likely
choice for ambassador to the United Nations or secretary of Veterans Affairs. |
Ethan Miller/Getty Images
Discussing the kind of leaders he wants to surround himself with
at an event in April, Biden said his job is “to bring the Mayor Petes of the
world into this administration … and even if they don't come in, their ideas
come into this administration.”
He has left open the possibility of including a Republican in the
Cabinet and is considering adding a climate-focused position.
“I think he will govern like [Bill] Clinton in terms of
consensus-building, but he will be surrounded by a lot of Obama people,” said
former New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, who served in the Clinton
administration as energy secretary and ambassador to the U.N. “I believe he
will have a free reign for six months, and then if there isn’t major, positive
change, you know, the fractures in the party will start showing.”
The health and economic wreckage from the pandemic has changed
Biden’s outlook on the presidency and his preparations for a potential
administration. Seeing the immediate, post-Trump era in more transformational
terms than he did before, he has adopted a more expansive legislative agenda,
including more robust college affordability, bankruptcy and Social Security
plans. He has significantly expanded his proposal to address climate change,
proposing to spend $2 trillion over four years on a suite of programs.
Biden’s advisers are preparing for the opening months of his
administration almost as a rescue mission, with contingencies to address the
coronavirus based on how severe it remains and on whether a vaccine is
available.
Karen Bass
Rep. Karen Bass could be secretary of HUD or Health and Human
Services. | Drew Angerer/Getty Images
“Between Covid-19, what Trump’s done and the economy, this is
going to be a totally different transition because of that. It’s just going to
be very, very difficult," Kaufman said.
However, he added, “When [Biden] shows up on the first day, he’s
not going to need to be told where the Situation Room is. He’s been in the
Situation Room for hundreds of hours. So he’s going to come in as … the most
experienced and qualified person in terms of federal experience of anybody in
the history of the country.”
The prospects of Biden’s legislative agenda would rest heavily on
whether Democrats win the Senate. Just as Biden is preparing to populate the
executive branch, he is laying groundwork to move legislation. Biden speaks
with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and House Speaker Nancy
Pelosi (D-Calif.), and their staffs are in regular contact.
Last month, Biden signaled an openness to ending the 60-vote
filibuster rule, a practice President Barack Obama recently called a “Jim Crow
relic.”
“The filibuster is gone,” said Harry Reid, the influential former
Senate majority leader and a friend of Biden. “It’s not a question of if, it’s
a question of when it’s going to go … Next year at this time, it will be gone.”
“The filibuster is gone."
Former Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid
When asked what changed Biden’s thinking about the filibuster,
Reid said, “I don’t know. I talked to him and Ricchetti about it. Maybe that
helped a little bit. I think, just basically, pragmatism — if he’s going to get
anything done as president, [the filibuster] has got to go.”
Biden campaign advisers say he considers his “Build Back Better”
agenda a package that can get broad buy-in, not a legislative starting point.
Jake Sullivan, a former top State Department official and a senior adviser to
Biden, said that as he formulates his legislative agenda, Biden is “being
attentive to how you construct a bold, integrated agenda that can also attract
a big tent coalition of support.”
And Stef Feldman, the Biden campaign’s policy director, said that
in addition to Biden's legislative experience, he "also knows how to move
the levers of government in the executive branch.”
Brown, who would likely become chairman of the Senate banking committee
if Democrats win the Senate, said it is not Biden "moving to the
left," but "Biden, and all of us around him, recognizing this is
going to be a very consequential presidency."
The fear among some progressives is that Biden’s relationships and
penchant for compromise may serve to water down the Democratic agenda. Larry
Cohen, the former Communications Workers of America president who now chairs
the Bernie Sanders-aligned group Our Revolution, said the inclusion of
progressives on Biden’s transition team is “the reason I’m hopeful” about a Biden administration.
Invoking Biden’s frequent references to FDR, Robert Reich, the
Clinton-era Labor secretary, recalled that Roosevelt initially “was certainly
not thought of as somebody on the left.” At first, he placed trust in the
nation’s financial institutions, pursuing a working relationship with both
populists and business interests early in his administration.
It was only after businesses balked and the relationship
deteriorated that Roosevelt changed course.
Then and now, Reich sad, “America was ready and willing and eager
to try almost anything.”
“The country will get behind Joe Biden, I think, in very powerful
and important ways,” Reich said, adding that Biden has the opportunity to be “a
transformative president … It’s almost entirely a function of the times.”
Filed Under: Elizabeth Warren, Elizabeth Warren
2020, Joe Biden, Joe Biden 2020, Susan Rice, Tony Blinken,
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