Biden’s White House and his cabinet would likely rely on his connections to the Obama administration, including institutionalists who are fond of central Democrats. But in the same way that Biden has been shooting left over policies in recent months in response to the pandemic, he is also taking advice from the party’s progressive wing.
Interviews with more than a dozen Democrats familiar with his transition process describe an attempt by his campaign to put together a center-left amalgamation of staff designed to prioritize speed over ideology in response to the coronavirus and the resulting economic ruin . Think Susan Rice, but also Elizabeth Warren. Pete Buttigieg, but also Karen Bass.
‘I think that [ideological] distinctions will be a bit tricky to draw in this administration, ”said Matt Bennett, whose center-left group Third Way, like others, is developing lists of candidates to run for Biden’s sub-cabinet advisers and other roles.
One Democratic strategist familiar with Biden’s work to form a government said: “It means the Chief of Staff will not be [longtime Biden advisers] Ron Klain or Steve Ricchetti or something? No, but it does mean that you will see some unusual suspicions in the government, I think. ”
Among those advising Biden on the transition are centrist-minded founding figures such as Tony Blinken, the former deputy national security adviser to the Obama-White House Biden, and Lawrence Summers, the former secretary of the Treasury and ban on progressives. t last week said he will not go into administration. Ricchetti, the former chief of staff of Biden, is a former lobbyist.
But Biden is also taking Warren’s economic advice, say Democrats familiar with the campaign. She is widely regarded as a potential Treasury secretary in a Biden administration. It did not go unnoticed when Biden called Corporate America “greedy as hell” in April. He has also proposed to increase the corporate tax rate.
And progressives are managed by the composition of his transition team. Led by former Senator 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, staff of staff at Rep. Pramila Jayapal, Co-Chair of the Progressive Caucus Congress.
“I think this is about getting experienced people who are really qualified to do the job. People with experience, people who are smart as hell and people who reflect America,” Kaufman said in a interview. “A lot of this is not about ideology or anything else. It’s all about what you do with the incredible hype that Trump has done … so many of the agencies are just empty, the careers that people have left.
“You’re going to run into a very difficult situation, and a lot of it will block and tackle.”
One name often referred to as a potential secretary of state is Rice, who was Obama’s national security adviser and made Biden’s shortlist for vice president. Blinken is often cited as a potential advisor to national security.
Warren’s potential selection for the Treasury could depend in part on the balance of the Senate following the November election. If she resigns, her state’s Republican governor, Charlie Baker, would nominate her replacement – a Republican, presumably – until a special election. But there are solutions.
A veteran Democratic strategist close to Biden’s transition team said that if Warren wanted a post, she would “certainly be in the cabinet.” And even if she’s not, she’s likely to influence Biden’s thinking.
Elsewhere in the cabinet, Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti, who signed Biden in early January and served on his vice-presidential selection committee, is a likely candidate for transportation such as housing and urban development, among other possible positions. Rep. Karen Bass (D-Calif.), Another finalist for vice president, could be secretary of HUD as Health and Human Services.
Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham of New Mexico “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 candidate, is seen as a likely choice for ambassador to the United Nations as secretary of Veterans Affairs. And Jared Bernstein, a longtime economic adviser to Biden, is often mentioned as a potential chairman of Biden’s Council of Economic Advisors. Bernstein was under the administration veterans and academics who gave Biden and Harris an economic briefing last week.
Speaking about the kind of leaders he wants to surround himself with at an event in April, Biden said his job is to “bring Mayor Petes of the world into this government … and even if they do not come in, their ideas will come govern here. ”
He has opened up the possibility of including a Republican in the cabinet and is considering adding a climate-focused position.
‘I think he will rule [Bill] Clinton in terms of consensus building, but he will be surrounded by many Obama people, “said former New Mexico Gov. Bill Billardsardson, who served in the Clinton administration as Secretary of Energy and Ambassador to the United Nations” I believe he will have a free government for six months, and then if there is no big, positive change, you know, the fractures in the party will start to show. “
The pandemic’s health and economic wreckage have changed Biden’s outlook on the presidency and its preparations for a potential administration. See the immediate, post-Trump era in more transformative conditions than he did before, and he has adopted a more comprehensive legislative agenda, including more robust college affordability, bankruptcy, and social security plans. He has significantly expanded his proposal to tackle climate change, and proposed spending $ 2 trillion over four years on a suite of programs.
Biden’s advisers are preparing for the opening months of its administration almost like a rescue mission, with contingencies to tackle the coronavirus based on how severe it remains and whether a vaccine is available.
“Between Covid-19, what Trump has done, and the economy, this will be a completely different transition. It will just be very, very difficult, “Kaufman said.
However, he added, “When [Biden] shows on the first day, he will not have to tell where the situation room is. He has been in the situation room for hundreds of hours. That he will enter as … the most experienced and qualified person in terms of federal experience of anyone in the history of the country. ”
The prospects of Biden’s legislative agenda would seriously save on the question of whether Democrats will win the House of Representatives. Just as Biden is preparing to run the executive department, he lays groundwork to move legislation. Biden talks with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (DN.Y.) and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), And their staff 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’s. “It’s not a question if, it’s a question of when it will go … Next year at this point it will be gone.”
Asked what changed Biden’s thinking about the filibuster, Reid said: ‘I do not know. I talked to him and Ricchetti about it. Maybe that helped a bit. I think, usually pragmatism – if he’s going to do anything as president, [the filibuster] must go. ”
Biden campaign advisers say he sees his ‘Build Back Better’ agenda as a broad-based package, not a legislative starting point. Jake Sullivan, a former State Department top official and a senior advisor to Biden, said that while formulating his legislative agenda, Biden’s attention is being paid to how to construct a bold, integrated agenda that also includes a large tent coalition of support can attract. ”
And Stef Feldman, the policy director of the Biden campaign, said that in addition to Biden’s legislative experience, “he also managed to move the government’s levies in the executive department.”
Brown, who would likely chair the House Senate Banking Committee if Democrats win the House, said it was not Biden “moved to the left,” but Biden, and all of us around him, acknowledged that this will be a very consistent presidency. “
The fear among some progressives is that Biden’s relationships and advantage for compromise could serve to water down the Democratic agenda. “Larry Cohen, the former president of Communications Workers of America who is now chairman of the Bernie Sanders-affiliated group Our Revolution, said the inclusion of progressives on Biden’s transition team is”.de reason I’m hopeful ”about a Biden administration.
Calling Biden’s frequent references to FDR, Robert Reich, the secretary of the Labor era of Labor, recalls that Roosevelt was initially “not thought of as anyone left.” Initially, he placed confidence in the nation’s financial institutions, and soon pursued a working relationship with both populists and business interests in his administration.
It was only after business boomed and the relationship deteriorated that Roosevelt changed course.
Then and now, sadly Empire, “America was ready and willing and ready to try almost anything.”
“The country will lag 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. . “
