Joe Biden Gives Susan Rice Key Position In Administration, Picks Her To Lead White House Domestic Policy Council
Joe Biden just crossed the Rubicon picked Susan Rice, former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, for a key job in his administration.
Biden tapped Rice to lead the White House Domestic Policy Council which will have a critical role in enacting his agenda. The position does not require Senate confirmation.
“The roles they will take on are where the rubber meets the road — where competent and crisis-tested governance can make a meaningful difference in people’s lives, enhancing the dignity, equity, security, and prosperity of the day-to-day lives of Americans,” Biden said in the statement.
From The Hill:
Rice also previously served as national security adviser during the Obama administration, and will now with direct the Domestic Policy Council, a unit with broad purview over Biden’s domestic agenda, including health, immigration and education policy. The role does not require Senate confirmation.
McDonough, who served as deputy national security adviser and later White House chief of staff under President Obama, will need to be confirmed by the U.S. Senate in order to lead the sprawling Department of Veterans Affairs.
Biden also officially announced other appointments and nominations, including Rep. Marcia Fudge (D-Ohio) as his nominee for Secretary of Housing and Urban Development; Katherine Tai, a trade lawyer for the House Ways and Means Committee, as his nominee for U.S. Trade Representative; and Tom Vilsack as his nominee to serve as Secretary of Agriculture, a role that Vilsack will reprise from his time serving in the Obama administration.
The announcements of Rice and McDonough in particular underscore the degree to which Biden is leaning on officials with deep experience who worked with one another in the Obama administration.
Rice had also been viewed as a leading contender for Biden’s secretary of state, a nomination that ultimately went to Antony Blinken, a longtime adviser with deep foreign policy experience who served in both the Clinton and Obama administrations.
Rice was also viewed as a potential running mate for Biden before his selection of Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.), who is now vice president-elect.
JUST IN: President-elect Joe Biden will tap former national security adviser Susan Rice to lead the White House Domestic Policy Council, sources say https://t.co/cIeUk07EB0 pic.twitter.com/uifFX6sJHi
— CNN Politics (@CNNPolitics) December 10, 2020