Name: Biden cabinet: Marcia Fudge reportedly tapped for housing and Tom Vilsack for agriculture
Brand: theguardian.com
SKU: theguardian-com-850
Availability: OnlineOnly

critic

Biden cabinet: Marcia Fudge reportedly tapped for housing and Tom Vilsack for agriculture

preview

This article is more than 1 year oldThis article is more than 1 year oldOhio congresswoman is a former chair of the Congressional Black Caucus; Vilsack served in the same role for Barack ObamaLast modified on Wed 20 Jan 2021 22.18 ESTJoe Biden has reportedly selected the Ohio congresswoman Marcia Fudge as his housing and urban development secretary and and the former agriculture secretary Tom Vilsack to reprise that role in his administration.Fudge was first elected to Congress in 2008 to represent a district that includes Cleveland, and is a former chair of the Congressional Black Caucus. Vilsack spent eight years as head of the US Department of Agriculture during the Obama administration and served two terms as Iowa governor.Their intended nominations were confirmed to the Associated Press on Tuesday by five people familiar with one or both of the decisions who spoke on condition of anonymity to avoid preempting the president-elect’s announcement.As other news outlets started reporting Fudge’s selection as Hud secretary on Tuesday, Fudge said on Capitol Hill that it would be “an honor and a privilege” to be asked to join Biden’s cabinet, though she did not confirm she had been picked.“It is something in probably my wildest dreams I would have never thought about. So if I can help this president in any way possible, I am more than happy to do it,” she said.A longtime member of the House agriculture committee and a fierce advocate for food stamps, Fudge was originally discussed to become agriculture secretary. But her name was later floated for Hud as Biden’s team focused on other candidates for USDA, including Vilsack and the former North Dakota senator Heidi Heitkamp.Biden has said he wants a diverse cabinet, and some Black leaders have said he needs to do more to achieve that. He announced on Tuesday that he had selected the retired army general Lloyd Austin as defense secretary, who would be the first Black leader of the Pentagon.Fudge enjoys the strong backing of South Carolina congressman Jim Clyburn, the No 3 House Democrat who gave Biden a key nod of support in the primaries. Clyburn has aggressively pushed Fudge for USDA but seemed to back away from that post earlier on Tuesday.“Marcia Fudge is a tremendous candidate. I was pitching her for the Department of Agriculture,” Clyburn noted on CNN. “I don’t know if that’s where she will end up, but I feel certain that Marcia Fudge is the kind of person that should be in this cabinet and I will continue to advocate for her.”Beyond Clyburn, she also had the backing of progressive groups for the USDA position.She earned her bachelor’s degree in business from the State University and a law degree from the Cleveland-Marshall School of Law at Cleveland State University. Politico first reported the news of Fudge’s selection.Biden’s relationship with Vilsack goes back decades. He was an early supporter of Biden’s first campaign for president in 1988 while Vilsack was the mayor of Mount Pleasant, Iowa. He endorsed Biden a year before the 2020 election and campaigned tirelessly for him in Iowa, the nation’s first caucus state. Biden has adopted aspects of Vilsack’s rural policy agenda as Democrats look to make up ground they have lost to Republicans in rural areas over the past decade.There is little mystery to Vilsack’s expertise after running the department for eight years under Obama and sitting at the table with Biden. Their 34-year friendship and longtime professional connection make the choice one offering little risk.Vilsack ran a 10-week campaign for the 2008 Democratic nomination before withdrawing and throwing his support to Hillary Clinton. Vilsack was a finalist for Clinton’s running mate that year.Politico first reported the news of Fudge’s selection, while Axios was first to report Vilsack as agriculture secretary.

This article is more than 1 year oldThis article is more than 1 year oldOhio congresswoman is a former chair of the Congressional Black Caucus; Vilsack served in the same role for Barack ObamaLast modified on Wed 20 Jan 2021 22.18 ESTJoe Biden has reportedly selected the Ohio congresswoman Marcia Fudge as his housing and urban development secretary and and the former agriculture secretary Tom Vilsack to reprise that role in his administration.Fudge was first elected to Congress in 2008 to represent a district that includes Cleveland, and is a former chair of the Congressional Black Caucus....

public

agency

TheGuardian.com, formerly known as Guardian.co.uk and Guardian Unlimited, is a British news and media website owned by the Guardian Media Group. It contains nearly all of the content of the newspapers The Guardian and The Observer, as well as a substantial body of web-only work produced by its own staff, including a rolling news service.

Biden cabinet: Marcia Fudge reportedly tapped for housing and Tom Vilsack for agriculture

No article scores yet.

CRITIC REVIEWS

PUBLIC REVIEWS