Biden Cabinet members actions and issues: on Principles & Values
Deb Haaland:
Scheduled to speak at Navajo Nation virtual day of prayer
The Navajo Nation will honor the 1,200-plus lives lost to the COVID-19 pandemic with a virtual day of prayer event. New U.S. Interior Secretary
Deb Haaland is among those scheduled to speak during the event, joining tribal government, religious and health care leaders, the tribe said in a press release Wednesday, exactly one year after the first Navajo Nation coronavirus death was confirmed.
Source: KTAR News 92.3 FM on Biden Cabinet
Mar 13, 2021
Janet Yellen:
Got permission from ethics lawyers before acting
Before calling the meeting, Yellen sought and received permission from Treasury ethics lawyers to do so and ensure that she was in compliance with her ethics agreement.
Reuters reported here on Monday that such an ethics waiver might be necessary because of the over $700,000 in speaking fees Yellen was paid by Citadel LLC, a hedge fund that has been at the center of the GameStop trading saga.
Source: Reuters news service on 2021 Biden Cabinet
Feb 4, 2021
Antony Blinken:
Determined to keep politics out of the State Department
I am determined to put our career folks in positions of responsibility and leadership, and I am absolutely determined that politics are not going to come into this building. I've worked with the men and women of the Foreign Service for more than couple
of decades. I couldn't begin to tell you who's a Republican, who's a Democrat, who's an independent. They're here every single day working for the American people pursuant to the Constitution to advance our interests.
Source: MSNBC interview: Secretary of State (Biden Cabinet)
Feb 1, 2021
Janet Yellen:
Attended high school named for America's first Treasurer
Yellen, who was the chairperson of the Federal Reserve from 2014 to 2018, graduated as valedictorian from Fort Hamilton High School in 1963 and was elected to the school's Hall of Fame in 1993. "Fort Hamilton H.S. was named after the country's first
Treasury secretary, so how amazing is it that the class of 1963's valedictorian has now been named to that position?" said Valerie Hodgson, president of the Fort Hamilton H.S. Alumni Association.
Source: Brooklyn Daily Eagle on 2021 Biden Cabinet
Jan 28, 2021
Antony Blinken:
Stepfather survived Holocaust; rescued by Americans
Blinken told the story of how Pisar was the only one out of 900 children in his school in Poland to survive the Holocaust after four years in concentration camps. "At the end of the war, he made a break from a death march into the woods in Bavaria.
From his hiding place, he heard a deep rumbling sound. It was a tank," Blinken said of the American military tank."He ran to the tank. The hatch opened. An African-American GI looked down at him,"
Blinken continued. "He got down on his knees and said the only three words that he knew in English that his mother had taught him before the war. 'God bless America.'"
Blinken said this is an example of how important the United States is to the rest of the world and how maintaining alliances can be a force for good.
Source: Fox News on Biden Cabinet
Jan 22, 2021
Merrick Garland:
Parents taught him hard work, community service
My grandparents left the pale of settlement, fleeing anti-Semitism. They settled in the Midwest, eventually making their way to Chicago. My father took me as he made the rounds to his customers, always impressing upon me the importance of hard work
and fair dealing. My mother headed the local PTA and school board and directed a volunteer services agency, all the while instilling in my sisters and me the understanding that service to the community is a responsibility above all others.
Source: Chicago Sun-Times on 2021 Biden Cabinet
Jan 7, 2021
Tom Vilsack:
USDA nomination endorsed by American Farm Bureau
American Farm Bureau President Zippy Duvall: "The American Farm Bureau Federation welcomes the news that Tom Vilsack will be nominated to be Secretary of Agriculture. The American Farm Bureau stands ready to
support Tom and work closely with him knowing his success as Ag Secretary correlates directly with America's farmers and ranchers, as well as our rural communities, having the support they need to flourish."
Source: Facebook posting: 2020 AFBF endorsement for Biden Cabinet
Dec 19, 2020
Deb Haaland:
Practices the "Seven Generation rule" for future decisions
Haaland, like millions of Indigenous peoples, strongly believes in and practices the Seven Generation rule. The rule says that all significant decisions must be made with the next seven generations in mind, and includes preserving and
protecting the water, the earth and the two leggeds and the four leggeds for people you will never meet--at least in this life.
Source: NBC News on Biden Cabinet: Interior Department
Dec 18, 2020
Tom Vilsack:
Willing to embrace new ideas, initiatives, reforms
Knowing Vilsack as we do in Iowa, we know he's been willing to embrace new ideas, initiatives and reforms.
It's doubtful someone as smart as Vilsack would fail to understand the fresh urgency to address big problems after four years of neglect by the Trump administration. The status quo is unacceptable.
Source: Cedar Rapids Gazette on Biden Cabinet
Dec 18, 2020
Deb Haaland:
Growing up in my mother's Pueblo household made me fierce
Haaland would be the first Native American Cabinet secretary. "A voice like mine has never been a Cabinet secretary or at the head of the Department of Interior,"
Haaland wrote in a tweet. "Growing up in my mother's Pueblo household made me fierce. I'll be fierce for all of us, our planet, and all of our protected land. I am honored and ready to serve."
Source: CNN on Biden Cabinet: Interior Department
Dec 17, 2020
Marcia Fudge:
Stop limiting black cabinet members to HUD or Labor
Almost exactly one month ago, in an interview with Politico, Ohio Representative Marcia Fudge criticized how former presidents were expected to assemble their Cabinets. "As this country becomes more and more diverse,
we're going to have to stop looking at only certain agencies as those that people like me fit in. You know, it's always 'we want to put the Black person in Labor or HUD,'" said Fudge, who is Black.
Source: The New Republic on Biden Cabinet
Dec 14, 2020
Marcia Fudge:
Skipped Trump's inauguration in protest
When Donald Trump was sworn in as president in 2017, Warrensville Heights Democratic Rep. Marcia Fudge skipped his inauguration in protest. Fudge can be a sharp-tongued partisan - she called for Trump's impeachment during his first
year in office and read a letter on the House of Representatives floor that called Trump supporters "racist, steeped in religious beliefs, ignorant, or, as my mother used to say, just plain dumb."
Source: The Cleveland Plain-Dealer on Biden Cabinet
Dec 13, 2020
Marcia Fudge:
Co-founded a Congressional Rock and Roll Caucus
She co-founded a Congressional Rock and Roll Caucus that hosts periodic
Capitol Hill events to highlight the work of Cleveland's Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.
Source: The Cleveland Plain-Dealer on Biden Cabinet
Dec 13, 2020
Deb Haaland:
As Pueblo woman feels connected to the earth
I learned from my parents to revere nature when I was growing up, and as a Pueblo woman, I feel connected to the earth and feel a responsibility to carry on the legacy of environmental stewardship of countless generations who came before me.
We as human beings depend on the planet for the things we need to live - clean water; the food we need that we get from farming, hunting and fishing; shelter; everything. It has been that way since time immemorial.
Source: Press release haaland.house.gov on Biden Cabinet
Dec 10, 2020
Marcia Fudge:
A Cabinet position is not a consolation prize
Q: Do you feel this HUD appointment is a consolation prize, as opposed to getting the Agriculture Secretary job that you wanted?A: No, I don't think so. You can't even say that a Cabinet position can be a consolation prize. No Cabinet position can
be a consolation prize. I am more than honored and pleased and humbled to be asked to be in the Cabinet of a president that I think is going to make such significant change. And mind you, I can help poor people as much at HUD as I could at Ag.
Source: The Cleveland Plain-Dealer on Biden Cabinet
Dec 10, 2020
John Kerry:
OpEd: Supports "Great Reset" for social & economic issues
Kerry argued that the Great Reset is necessary to slow the "climate crisis" and that "I know Joe Biden believes it's not enough just to rejoin Paris [the Paris Climate Accords]. It's not enough for us to just do the minimum of what Paris requires."
Kerry also said that because of the Great Reset movement, he believes "we're at the dawn of an extremely exciting time" and that "the greatest opportunity we have" to address social and economic problems is "dealing with the climate crisis."
According to the Great Reset's supporters, the plan would fundamentally transform much of society. As the World Economic Forum (WEF) head wrote, "the world must act jointly and swiftly to revamp all aspects of our societies and economies,
from education to social contracts and working conditions. Every country, from the United States to China, must participate, and every industry, from oil and gas to tech, must be transformed. In short, we need a 'Great Reset' of capitalism."
Source: The Hill e-zine on 2021 Biden Cabinet
Dec 3, 2020
Joe Biden:
OpEd: Biden no moderate: highly liberal record
Whether on racial matters, war, or other issues over five decades, Biden maintained through the presidential campaign that his positions defined him as a moderate--an everyman for everybody. His protestations and press releases asserted such--
but his long voting record did not affirm it. When Barack Obama chose Biden as a running mate in 2008, the pair scored among the highest liberal records of their peers, as measured by the liberal Americans for Democratic Action.
Source: Human Events magazine on Biden Cabinet
Nov 20, 2020
Mike Pompeo:
Denies that Trump undercuts US support for free elections
At his news conference, Pompeo roundly dismissed a question about whether Trump's unfounded protests have created problems for U.S. credibility. "You asked a question that is ridiculous,"
he responded. "This department cares deeply to make sure that elections around the world are safe and secure and free and fair, and my officers risk their lives to ensure that that happens."
Source: A.P., "Denying Biden's Victory", on Trump Cabinet
Nov 13, 2020
Susan Rice:
Pitcher at Morehouse College & Congressional Baseball Game
In Congress, he continued the cross-party friendship with neighboring GOP Rep. Steve Scalise that began when they both served in the state legislature. Richmond would also lead the Congressional Black Caucus from 2017 to 2019.
Perhaps most famously, though, Richmond was unquestionably the best player from either party in the annual Congressional Baseball Game, and Democrats dominated almost every game featuring the former Morehouse College pitcher.
Source: DailyKos blog on Biden Cabinet
Nov 11, 2020
Bill Nelson:
You serve the public; you don't serve yourself
I've always felt that the value of this kind of work is not politics and government per se, it is public service. That assumes that you understand that you serve the public, you don't serve yourself--albeit there's always a conflict
in a political elected position that you have to worry about being elected. If you stray off the north star, though--which is service to the people you have been elected to represent--then it goes haywire.
Source: Tampa Bay Ledger on 2021 Biden Cabinet
Sep 4, 2020
Merrick Garland:
Sold his comics books to help pay for Harvard Law tuition
School board President Scott L. Anderson spoke about the judge's accomplishments at Lincoln Hall, which included serving as student council president. He also shared some trivia about Garland, including the fact that he sold his
comic books to help pay for his tuition at Harvard Law School, where he graduated magna cum laude.
Source: Chicago Tribune on 2021 Biden Cabinet
Sep 5, 2018
Merrick Garland:
An "insider's insider" in understanding Dept. of Justice
Garland is an insider's insider when it comes to understanding how the Department of Justice works -- and what its proper function should be. This insider status will be a huge help to Garland in running the Justice Department.
The permanent staff will accept and respect him from day one. He knows how power works within the department's highly complex bureaucracy, and he will know how to choose and supervise his political appointees.
Source: Seattle Times on 2021 Biden Cabinet
Jul 5, 2018
Marty Walsh:
Put an end to Boston's bid for summer Olympics
Boston Mayor Marty Walsh refused to sign the host city contract that would put taxpayers on the line for Olympic debts and told reporters that the opposition to the Olympic bid, which got more media attention than anything else during his mayorship,
was "about ten people on Twitter." Then the US Olympic Committee pulled Boston from the running. Walsh explained that the costs outweighed the perceived benefits, and that "our citizens were rightly hesitant to be supportive."
Source: Jacobin magazine on 2021 Biden Cabinet
Jan 26, 2017
Xavier Becerra:
We know true value of diversity; will fight for our beliefs
In a conference call with reporters, Becerra seemed open to sparring over ideology with a Trump administration if needed. "We are a state that knows who it is,
what it's good at, and we're going to continue to do that," Becerra said. "We know the true value of diversity, and we're going to fight for what we believe in."
Source: Buzzfeed blog on Biden Cabinet
Dec 1, 2016
Antony Blinken:
Talked about refugees to Grover on "Sesame Street"
@ABlinken on Twitter: This school year, some kids will have new classmates: refugees.
@Grover & I discuss how to make them feel welcome in their new communities.
Source: @ABlinken Twitter posting: Biden Cabinet
Sep 21, 2016
Jennifer Granholm:
Antidote to negativity and pain: service to others
There is a sure-fire antidote for the negativity and pain that besets our democracy, an antidote that is the purest act of all: service to others. Even the hardest heart softens when a tutored child overcomes the odds to excel. Even the most virulent
antigovernment activist feels compassion in delivering meals to disabled and home-bound seniors. The acts of kindness occurring each day all over America can begin to heal our pain, soothe our rage, and remind us that we are one human family.
Source: U.S. News & World Report on Biden Cabinet
Oct 28, 2010
Page last updated: May 20, 2021