President-elect Joe Biden has selected five women to serve as assistant secretaries in key Cabinet agencies, including Wisconsin Department of Security (DHS) Designated Secretary Andrea Palm.
The nominees, who need to be confirmed by the Senate, include Jewel H. Bronaugh in Agriculture, Polly Trottenberg in Transportation, Andrea Palm in Health and Human Services, Elizabeth Klein in Interior and Cindy Marten in Education.
The announcement reflects Biden's intention to propel women to positions of relevance
and his desire to quickly address the nation's crises and renew agencies, demoralized by the passage of the Trump Administration.
[Biden selects as attorney general Justice Merrick Garland, who was unsuccessfully nominated to the Supreme Court by Obama in 2016]
Four of the women
, Bronaugh, Trottenberg, Palm and Klein,
served in the same departments during the Obama administration
, so Biden draws on a family team to help his government face a shorter learning curve.
These positions often have crucial responsibility in managing day-to-day operations while the secretary travels or acts as the best-known figure in the agency.
Bronaugh, chosen by Biden as undersecretary of agriculture, is a commissioner of the Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services and
would be the first woman of color to serve as undersecretary of the agency
.
She served as Virginia Executive Director for the Department of Agriculture (USDA) Farm Services Agency (FSA) during the era of Tom Vilsack, former Democratic Iowa Governor and Secretary of Agriculture. of the United States in the Government of former President Barack Obama.
[Biden will ask Congress to grant a path to citizenship for 11 million undocumented immigrants "on his first day in office," says his chief of staff]
Vilsack said in a statement that he looked forward to working with Bronaugh to "address the climate crisis, end the coronavirus pandemic, improve access to nutritious food, and rebuild rural America."
Trottenberg has led the New York City Department of Transportation for the past seven years
, which has 5,800 employees overseeing the city's roads, bridges, traffic and parking systems, as well as the Staten Island Ferry and extensive infrastructure. for bicycles and pedestrians.
Biden Announces $ 2 Trillion to Fight COVID-19 and Recover the Economy
Jan. 15, 202100: 34
Palm held various positions in the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) in the Obama era, including as Acting Under Secretary for Legislation, Chief of Staff and Senior Counsel to the Secretary.
She worked on the Affordable Care Act and helped lead efforts to combat the opioid epidemic.
[What is Joe Biden's plan to accelerate COVID-19 vaccination in the US?]
Klein is another Obama Administration veteran
, who worked in the Interior Department and on renewable energy and climate change during the era of former Democratic President Bill Clinton.
Marten, with a 32-year career as an educator
, would leave her job as superintendent of the San Diego Unified School District to serve as an assistant secretary in the Department of Education.
Two weeks ago, he signed a letter with a small group of school superintendents criticizing California Governor Gavin Newsom's plan to reopen schools as inappropriate for low-income communities in the coronavirus pandemic.
With information from The Washington Post and Channel 3000.