WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Thursday, President-elect Joe Biden announced a new set of key members of his incoming administration.
Tom Vilsack, who was the Secretary of Agriculture for eight years under President Barack Obama, comes to the same post for a third term.
Congresswoman Marcia Fudge has been named Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, and Denis McDonough is nominated as Secretary of Veterans Affairs. Katherine Tai, of Taiwanese origin, will be the new United States Trade Representative. The United States' former Ambassador to the UN, Susan Rice, was appointed Director of the Domestic Policy Council.
Vilsack, a two-term Governor of Iowa, oversaw record-breaking investments in rural communities, secured vital improvements to the nation's school meal system, and led a successful campaign to increase food safety standards as Obama's Secretary of Agriculture.
Marcia Fudge, who has represented Ohio's 11th Congressional District for the last twelve years, is a longtime champion of affordable housing, urban revitalization and infrastructure investment. If confirmed, she will become the first woman to lead HUD in more than 40 years and the second Black woman in U.S. history to lead the Department.
Through his service as White House Chief of Staff, Deputy National Security Advisor, and Chief of Staff of the National Security Council, McDonough helped lead the Obama administration's work on behalf of military families and veterans.
A veteran international trade expert, Katherine Tai serves as the chief lawyer on trade for the House Ways and Means Committee and previously served in the Office of the United States Trade Representative as Chief Counsel for China Trade Enforcement. If confirmed, she would be the first Asian American and first woman of color to serve in this position.
One of the United States' most senior and experienced government leaders, Susan Rice in the new post will coordinate the formulation and implementation of the President-elect's domestic policy agenda to 'build back better'. Rice served as National Security Advisor from 2013-2017. As U.S. Permanent Representative to the United Nations and a member of the Cabinet from 2009-2013, Ambassador Rice won major concessions and sealed important agreements with the United States' toughest adversaries, including Russia and Iran.
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