President-Elect Biden Announces His First Cabinet Picks - UPDATED
As promised, his cabinet selections look a lot like the America who elected him.
Via the New York Times, here are the cabinet posts they have confirmed:
WASHINGTON — Antony J. Blinken, a defender of global alliances and President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr.’s closest foreign policy adviser, is expected to be nominated for secretary of state, a job in which he will try to coalesce skeptical international partners into a new competition with China, according to people close to the process.
Mr. Blinken, 58, a former deputy secretary of state under President Barack Obama, began his career at the State Department during the Clinton administration. His extensive foreign policy credentials are expected to help calm American diplomats and global leaders alike after four years of the Trump administration’s ricocheting strategies and nationalist swaggering.
Mr. Biden is also expected to name another close aide, Jake Sullivan, as national security adviser, according to a person familiar with the process. Mr. Sullivan, 43, succeeded Mr. Blinken as Vice President Biden’s national security adviser, and served as the head of policy planning at the State Department under Hillary Clinton, becoming her closest strategic adviser.
Together, Mr. Blinken and Mr. Sullivan, good friends with a common worldview, have become Mr. Biden’s brain trust and often his voice on foreign policy matters. And they led the attack on President Trump’s use of “America First” as a guiding principle, saying it only isolated the United States and created opportunities and vacuums for its adversaries to fill.
The president-elect is also going to appoint Linda Thomas-Greenfield, a 35-year veteran of the Foreign Service, as his ambassador to the United Nations, according to Times sources. Biden will also restore the post to cabinet-level status, giving Ms. Thomas-Greenfield, who is Black, a seat on his National Security Council.
And of course, Mitch McConnell may obstruct any of Biden's choices, depending on what happens with the Georgia Senate runoff elections. Hence the speculation about Biden's possible Treasury picks, like Fed governor Lael Brainard,.
President-elect Joe Biden last week said he had made his pick for Treasury secretary, but is staying mum on the namehttps://t.co/hlkrijDiq4
— POLITICO (@politico) November 23, 2020
Breaking: Biden announces foreign policy & national security team: Antony Blinken, Secretary of State; Alejandro Mayorkas, DHS Sec'y; Avril Haines, DNI; Linda Thomas-Greenfield, U.N. ambassador; Jake Sullivan, National Security Advisor; and John Kerry, Special Envoy for Climate.
— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) November 23, 2020
We @demandprogress polled on potential @JoeBiden Treasury picks this week - the data shows that choosing Janet Yellen would be very popular. pic.twitter.com/TuuJtWqCPG
— David Segal (@DavidSegalRI) November 20, 2020
We'll find out tomorrow about Treasury.
UPDATE: Having the creator of the DACA program in charge of DHS will be a huge upgrade.
Alejandro Mayorkas is a historic and experienced choice to lead an agency in desperate need of reform.
As an immigrant and a creator of the DACA program, he’s well suited to undo Trump’s damage and build a more compassionate and common sense immigration agenda. https://t.co/4pQdJ3q2GT— Julián Castro (@JulianCastro) November 23, 2020
UPDATE: Janet Yellen will be Biden's pick for Treasury, according to the Wall Street Journal
President-elect Joe Biden plans to nominate former Federal Reserve Chairwoman Janet Yellen, an economist at the forefront of policy-making for three decades, to become the next Treasury secretary, according to people familiar with the decision.
If confirmed by the Senate, Ms. Yellen would become the first woman to hold the job. Mr. Biden’s selection positions the 74-year-old labor economist to lead his administration’s efforts to drive the recovery from the destruction caused by the coronavirus pandemic.