Biden Cabinet Confirmation Live Thread ***hearings, votes, etc.***

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Seriously though,  why would they?

Just a hunch. I could be wrong, we'll see.

Not every post merits a lengthy response

Cool.

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Biden is reportedly considering choosing former Disney CEO Bob Iger to be U.S. Ambassador to China. That would be a completely insane and stupid decision. Hopefully, those rumors/speculation aren't true.

It would basically confirm many people's fears that Biden is "Beijing Biden" and that he is going to be "soft" on China. It would also be terrible optics in general. Some parts of the 2020 live-action Mulan remake were filmed in Xinjiang - the same province in which the Uyghurs are being held in concentration camps.

Disney (like most major companies) are completely silent on the Chinese government's authoritarian abuses because they don't want to lose access to the growing Chinese consumer market & moviegoing audience - which makes them a ton of money.

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Alejandro Mayorkas is confirmed as the Homeland Security Secretary by the vote of 56-43 in the US Senate.


The most contentious confirmation vote for a Biden nominee so far. The Tanden confirmation vote will be even closer.

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Alejandro Mayorkas is confirmed as the Homeland Security Secretary by the vote of 56-43 in the US Senate.


The most contentious confirmation vote for a Biden nominee so far. The Tanden confirmation vote will be even closer.

I'm out of the loop regarding the conformations, why was his vote so close in comparison?

An inspector general's report from 2015 stated that Mayorkas intervened to help some prominent Democrats with a visa program when he worked at DHS during the Obama administration. Also, some Republicans are opposed to Biden's immigration plans in general and thus voted against Mayorkas's nomination.

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What's the schedule for upcoming votes and hearings?

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Vilsack and McDonough have cleared committee, but no Senate vote has been scheduled. I assume, however, that they will get a vote sometime this week.

Committee hearings/votes are as follows:

February 3
9:30am • Raimondo (vote)
9:45am • Thomas-Greenfield (vote)
10:00am • Cardona (hearing)
10:00am • Granholm (vote)
10:30am • Guzman (hearing)
2:00pm • Regan (hearing)

February 4
10:00am • Walsh (hearing)
2:00pm • Fudge/Rouse (vote)

February 9
9:15am • Tanden (hearing)

So, if the Senate moves quickly, Vilsack, McDonough, Raimondo, Thomas-Greenfield, Granholm, Fudge, and Rouse could all be in place by the end of the week or early next week.

Thank you!

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It looks like Ted Cruz is holding up the committee vote on Linda Thomas-Greenfield.

Gina Raimondo cleared the Commerce Committee by a vote of 21-3. It's unlikely but I hope that her nomination fails. She has a terrible record and her comments on Huawei are troubling to say the least.

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The whole women's sports thing is thornier than people often make it out to be, especially because, if you insist on sex-based categories for sports, what of trans men who have been taking hormones? Would they not have an unfair advantage over cis women?

I don't have the answer, but my hot take is that men and women as sports categories is fast becoming antiquated and that we should find some sort of objective measure of athletic capacity and divide the categories based on such a measurement. But yeah, Cardona will be confirmed easily is my prediction, probably won't even need Kamala's vote.

I strongly disagree with that statement. Men and women's sports MUST be kept separate.

This issue is complicated but also a losing issue for Democrats and other people on the left.

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The whole women's sports thing is thornier than people often make it out to be, especially because, if you insist on sex-based categories for sports, what of trans men who have been taking hormones? Would they not have an unfair advantage over cis women?

I don't have the answer, but my hot take is that men and women as sports categories is fast becoming antiquated and that we should find some sort of objective measure of athletic capacity and divide the categories based on such a measurement. But yeah, Cardona will be confirmed easily is my prediction, probably won't even need Kamala's vote.

I strongly disagree with that statement. Men and women's sports MUST be kept separate.

May I ask why you feel that way so strongly?

There are biological differences between men and women. Trans women were born biologically as males. Though, many trans women have transitioned and take hormones, when it comes to sports - trans women will GENERALLY have an advantage over non-trans women.

Anyways, this isn't the topic of this thread. So I'll leave it there.

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https://mobile.twitter.com/SenateCloakroom/status/1358932142663888898

This came out of nowhere. The first female Deputy SecDef. Congrats to Kathleen Hicks!

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https://twitter.com/burgessev/status/1359300611049738247

That's way too far away. What is Dick Durbin doing?

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https://twitter.com/cnnbrk/status/1362198860974686211

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snip

What do you peg as the odds that Raimondo is confirmed next week?

Pretty good being that she has already cleared committee, but you never know. I haven't heard any rumors of a filibuster of her but that could still be taken care of by next Friday if Schumer wanted to invoke cloture early in the week.

True, but 9 nominees have cleared committee, and given how slowly they've been moving, I doubt all would get a vote next week. So I'm curious how high Raimondo is in the order of priority / importance. Seems that, at a minimum, Cardona and LTG will get a full Senate vote first (and Vilsack of course).

The reason for the delay in confirmation votes was due to the lack of an organizing resolution and then the impeachment trial. Things should be much quicker next week.

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https://twitter.com/AndrewSolender/status/1362871954022277125

Looks like Tanden's nomination is dead, barring some crossover GOP votes.

I WAS RIGHT!!!!!!!

See, I told you guys. I said that Manchin would be opposed to Neera Tanden from the beginning.

Tanden better hope that Romney/Collins/Murkowski aren't also a NO because her nomination is DOA otherwise.

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Bloomberg is reporting that Rahm Emanuel is high on the list to be appointed as U.S. Ambassador to China by Biden.

I might have to start taking the "Sleepy Joe" conspiracies more seriously if this reporting is true.

But no, for real, Biden is smarter than that (I think/hope). Or hopefully, just like earlier Rahm rumors - this one isn't true.

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You don’t have to like Tanden or hate Manchin to think it’s a bit ridiculous that the guy who voted to confirm Brett Kavanaugh won’t confirm Tanden cos she hurt people’s feelings online.

Joe Manchin is Joe Manchin. As brucejoel99 has said to me many times before, his performative politics is the reason why he's still a senator representing West Virginia - one of the most Republican and Trump-friendly states in America.

His opposition to Tanden is clearly performative. Anyways, what Dems have to do is make sure that we gain enough Senate seats in 2022 so that Manchin's vote becomes irrelevant.

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https://mobile.twitter.com/AnnieGabstonH/status/1363681593068453890
This is the problem with some people on the left. Just because someone is a "person of color" or a "woman" - that doesn't absolve them from criticism or opposition. Also, the opposition to Neera Tanden is NOT because she's a "woman of color".

Biden's pick to be Deputy OMB Director is Shalanda Young - she's a Black woman. For all intents and purposes, she's qualified and doesn't have the mean tweets history that Tanden does. Biden should nominate Young to be OMB Director instead.

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What are the chances Murk votes for Tanden?

If Collins and Romney are a NO, then you pretty much already know the answer. It's extremely unlikely that Murkowski will vote in favor of Tanden's nomination.

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Eh, I think it's a bit more nuanced than that. It isn't that they're absolved of criticism or opposition -- I think it's that they want to be able to have a level playing field. In other words, lots of folks believe that a woman should be allowed to do all the female equivalent of things that Trump did and largely get away with it, whereas obviously that would never happen.

I'm a Black man in America, so I know that there's not a level playing field. However, many of the people who have been angered by Manchin/Collins/Romney opposition to Tanden have basically said "Oh, it must be because she's a POC/woman, that's why they are opposed to her". That's very reductive and obviously false.

Additionally, others have brought up "What about Trump?" but that makes no sense. Manchin and Romney have voted to convict Trump twice, Collins just voted to convict Trump. Others have said "Well, they voted for many Trump appointees like Bill Barr, Mike Pompeo, Jeff Sessions, Brett Kavanaugh, etc". That also doesn't make sense because duh, Romney and Collins are Republicans and Manchin represents West Virginia - one of the most Republican states in America - LOL.

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I wonder what the odds are that Manchin and Murkowski end up abstaining on Tanden, thus making it so she gets confirmed with a 49-49 vote. Murkowski ended up doing that with Kavanaugh...

No lol. Manchin said that he will vote NO not that he will abstain.

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Isn't Bill Nelson a little bit too old to be NASA Administrator?

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Isn't Bill Nelson a little bit too old to be NASA Administrator?

What does age have to do with anything when he has more than enough experience - basically being Capitol Hill's NASA liaison for 3 decades - to do the job well, especially when much of the job as Administrator involves just fighting Congress for the funding that your divisions want & need?

In any event, he's literally the same age as the President, so if a 78-year-old can be Commander-in-Chief, I see no reason why one can't be NASA Administrator too.

LOL, calm down there buddy. I'm not opposed to Bill Nelson being NASA administrator but I think that you could find someone with similar knowledge as Nelson but younger.

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Would Nelson be the first NASA Administrator who has actually been to space?  I haven't kept up with NASA that much over the last few years.

No, Charles Bolden - the NASA administrator under President Obama - was a former astronaut who has been in space before.

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Go off King

https://twitter.com/AndrewSolender/status/1363989112684961798

Tanden needs to be worried about Sinema. Sinema can the deal the death blow to Tanden's nomination. She's been silent so far.

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I am perfectly calm? Why are you so quick to presume that this was an attack of some sort or something? I was simply pointing out that age shouldn't really have anything to do with the proposed nomination here.

And in any event, no, I don't believe you could find somebody younger than Bill Nelson who has the same mix of congressional & NASA-based knowledge that would allow him to both fight with Congress for the funding that they want while not actively trying to f**k with NASA & their own undertakings like Bridenstine did (& that - inherently speaking - only he has, since only he was NASA's Capitol Hill go-to for 3 decades).

Well, I apologize for assuming.

Anyways, I didn't literally mean the same expertise as Nelson. I just meant a person with a deep knowledge of NASA and aeronautics.