Biden Likely To Announce Cabinet Picks As Early As Next Week
President-elect Joe Biden seems bent on filling his incoming administration at breakneck speed. As part of this effort, he is expected to name top leaders for his Cabinet as early as next week.
Speaking to reporters on Thursday, Biden revealed that he has already decided on who he picked to lead the Treasury Department. Three people familiar with the decision told Axios that the president-elect had made his choice for the secretary of state, in a bid to get together a Cabinet that will be confirmable by the Senate, as Trump refuses to acknowledge that he won the presidential election.
Biden's pick for the Treasury Department and secretary of state nominee is expected to be unveiled before Thanksgiving, people associated with the transition told The Associated Press but insisted that their names were not revealed. The sources even discussed internal deliberations.
The Cabinet announcements are likely to be released in portions. However, groups of nominees focused on national security, economy, public health, and other top areas are expected to be announced at once. This move is intended to deliver a message to the outgoing president that Biden is bent on taking the office even though Trump refuses to concede.
After losing the election, Trump has raised questions regarding the legitimacy of election results in key states, undermining core democratic principles, including the peaceful transfer of power. Moreover, the president's roadblocks are also problematic because Biden is slated to take office in Jan. amid the coronavirus pandemic, which has been touted as the worst public health crisis in over a century.
Director of the Center for Presidential Transition at the nonpartisan Partnership for Public Service, David Marchick, pointed out that the impact continues to get worse with every passing day, noting that every new day that's lost has a bigger impact than the day before.
Biden’s transition work hasn't stopped, with the president-elect holding numerous virtual meetings from his Wilmington, Delaware home, and a music venue downtown. Biden is currently focusing on choosing his Cabinet, and the process is nothing short of fitting puzzle pieces together.
Assembling the 15-person team isn't a cakewalk for Biden, who is facing multiple demands from competing interests while trying to navigate a closely divided Senate. A series of GOP senators who spoke to POLITICO have signaled that they would back Biden's nominees, provided they are mainstream.
Biden must find the ideal mix of nominees to satisfy progressives that have been demanding evidence of his commitment to introduce major reforms. Biden has already named four new top administration hires on Friday, including Cathy Russell as the White House Office of Presidential Personnel director.