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

[brucejoel99]

Do Indians not count to her, or people from china?  Like there are several from the top of my head who are Asian in the Cabinet, and that's not counting Harris.

Well, her main concern is the lack of Asian-Pacific Americans in particular, but even then, the stance still erroneously implies that Katherine Tai somehow doesn't count (or is not being given a job that comes with the "Secretary" or AG title somehow more disrespectful than literally not being given a job at all?):

Katherine Tai. I know, not a "Secretary," but for all intents & purposes, she - like all Cabinet-level officials - is basically a part of the Cabinet. It's not hypocritical to state that Biden's Cabinet "looks like America" when it's the most diverse Cabinet in history by far, & especially when the AAPI community is represented by one of our chief representatives to the world (Tai), by the official who's responsible for overseeing the implementation of the President's policy agenda (Tanden), & by the person who's literally one heartbeat away from the Presidency (Harris). So let's not be overly critical here.

[brucejoel99]

6.8% of the total U.S. population is AAPI. There are 25 members of the Biden Cabinet: 2 of said members - the VP & the USTR (who's a member of the Cabinet as it's currently constituted because, yes, Cabinet-level counts) - are AAPI, meaning 8% of the Biden Cabinet is AAPI. Biden pledged to appoint a Cabinet that "looked like America." What's the issue here?

[brucejoel99]

6.8% of the total U.S. population is AAPI. There are 25 members of the Biden Cabinet: 2 of said members - the VP & the USTR (who's a member of the Cabinet as it's currently constituted because, yes, Cabinet-level counts) are AAPI, meaning 8% of the Biden Cabinet is AAPI. Biden pledged to appoint a Cabinet that "looked like America." What's the issue here?

Neither the US trade Rep nor the VP is a cabinet secretary as Duckworth is defining the term.

Narrowly defining the term in order to suit an incorrect narrative ought to be her problem, not Joe Biden's.

[brucejoel99]

Narrowly defining the term in order to suit an incorrect narrative ought to be her problem, not Joe Biden's.

The VP isn't a Cabinet Secretary. Neither is the USTR, which a "Cabinet-level" position.

However, "Cabinet-level" changes frequently based on who is the President. Trump had the CIA Director as a "Cabinet-level" position but Biden doesn't. Biden elevated the US Ambassador to the UN back to a "Cabinet-level" position after Trump removed it from "Cabinet-level" status in 2018. Bush 43 removed the SBA from being a "Cabinet-level" position after it was in that rank in the Clinton administration - Obama elevated back in 2012.

"The Cabinet" is formally the VP and the heads of the 15 federal executive departments that are ranked in the presidential order of succession. USTR is neither the head of a federal executive department OR in the presidential order of succession.

I mean, if we're gonna get technical here, then that's wrong in that "the Cabinet" is an informal term that's not formally defined in any meaningful sense & so the definition of it as well as what constitutes it is the prerogative of the incumbent President, who - in this case - has deemed his "Cabinet" to include Cabinet-level officials such as the USTR. If Sen. Duckworth wants to make this an argument about the heads of the federal executive departments or about the presidential line of succession, then she's free to do so, but (aside from the fact that even that would still constitute an equally erroneous argument, given that the closest number to 6.8% of either of those totalities would still equate to just 1, which would be satisfied even without the USTR's inclusion) if she's talking about "the Cabinet," then the simple fact of the matter here is that Biden promised a Cabinet that "looked like America," & unless we're just gonna disagree on how literal math works, the claim that he failed to do so with the Cabinet that he formed per his prerogative to decide who does & doesn't count as a member of his Cabinet just can't be credibly made.

[brucejoel99]

Apparently according to her if it's not someone who has the word "secretary" in their job title, the AAPI community won't get or appreciate that it's a high ranking official...

That's not what she said.

https://mobile.twitter.com/mkraju/status/1374444638006747142
This is a very valid point.

It's not a valid point.  Black people are 14% of the United States.  Just having 1/15 Cabinet-level officials be Black would not be something to be proud of if you are talking about matching their proportion of the population.  But AAPI are like 6% of the population.  1/15 is about 7%.  So yes, having one AAPI would be the same as their proportion of the overall U.S. population, and you are perfectly justified pointing to that one person and saying "This AAPI woman is 7% of our Cabinet and we're very proud of her."  But Biden actually has 2/15 because Katherine Tai is the USTR.

*25 if Tai's included

[brucejoel99]

*snip*

Bringing up the fact that Asians make up "6.8% of the population" is irrelevant. Until very recently, White men made up 90-100% of the Cabinet - way larger than their population percentage. The first wave of Asian immigration to the U.S. happened in the 1850s and it took until 2000 to have the first Asian Cabinet Secretary (Commerce Secretary Norman Mineta).

Also, having more than 1 Asian person as a Cabinet Secretary is a perfectly justifiable demand - Obama literally had 3 (Locke, Chu and Shinseki). Furthermore, it's not like Duckworth/Hirono are saying to just appoint random Asians. There are a plethora of qualified Asian people who could fill many high-ranking governmental roles.

Not when Biden - again - literally pledged to nominate a Cabinet that "looked like America," a pledge he clearly fulfilled.

[brucejoel99]

Not when Biden - again - literally pledged to nominate a Cabinet that "looked like America," a pledge he clearly fulfilled.

And yet he couldn't appoint a single Asian Cabinet Secretary? Even Trump had one (Elaine Chao - corrupt as she is), Bush 43 had two (Chao and Mineta). Biden has ZERO. That's called regression.

You can come up with any explanation/excuse or whatever but the fact still remains: Biden SHOULD have appointed an Asian Cabinet Secretary.

If you're just gonna make this conversation go round & round in circles, then it's not a conversation worth being had.

[brucejoel99]

If you're just gonna make this conversation go round & round in circles, then it's not a conversation worth being had.

But it's literally a fact. USTR =/= Cabinet Secretary. VP =/= Cabinet Secretary.

But whatever, I'll leave it at that, we've had this convo a few times now. We're not going to agree with each other on this topic. So yeah, let's agree to disagree ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

For the umpteenth freaking time: just because the words "Secretary" or "Attorney General" may not appear in their titles, that doesn't mean that they're not considered members of the Cabinet. Biden appointed a requisite number of AAPI individuals to his Cabinet - which consists of 25 members, per his prerogative, & not just the 15 statutory federal dept. heads - that made it "look like America," which is what he pledged to do. If the response to him literally upholding his pledge is to say "that's not good enough, because it's actually only the words "Secretary" or "Attorney General" that matter now," then that's just goal-post moving that's disingenuous at best & the outright planting of a false narrative at worst.

Anyway, I'll actually leave it at that, because you & I both know that you're probably not gonna end up agreeing with a single word of what I just said, even though I believe (& it seems as if other posters also agree with me in believing) that to not agree means to declare that you disagree with what the literal basic reality of the situation is, but I digress.

[brucejoel99]

Anyway, I'll actually leave it at that, because you & I both know that you're probably not gonna end up agreeing with a single word of what I just said, even though I believe (& it seems as if other posters also agree with me in believing) that to not agree means to declare that you disagree with what the literal basic reality of the situation is, but I digress.

LOL, yeah right. Biden having ZERO Asian Cabinet Secretaries is a literal fact.

Are you serious right now? Jesus christ. Welp, thank you for at least proving that you didn't actually bother to read what I just said, since this statement of yours would indicate that you didn't read the paragraph that was literally posted right before what you just quoted, which you so conveniently chose to omit from your quote, & which constitutes the basic reality that you've evidently chosen to continue ignoring:

For the umpteenth freaking time: just because the words "Secretary" or "Attorney General" may not appear in their titles, that doesn't mean that they're not considered members of the Cabinet. Biden appointed a requisite number of AAPI individuals to his Cabinet - which consists of 25 members, per his prerogative, & not just the 15 statutory federal dept. heads - that made it "look like America," which is what he pledged to do. If the response to him literally upholding his pledge is to say "that's not good enough, because it's actually only the words "Secretary" or "Attorney General" that matter now," then that's just goal-post moving that's disingenuous at best & the outright planting of a false narrative at worst.

[brucejoel99]

The Vice President, Trade Rep, and Surgeon General are all Asian-American. All three are high-level positions in the US government. Just because they don't have Secretary in their title doesn't mean they aren't important. This argument is just dumb, and I'm glad Duckworth and Hirono are backing down.

Yeah, if nothing else, it really seems like this was all an extremely avoidable case of the Democrats eating their own.

[brucejoel99]

Levine passes CLOTURE 52-48

R Ayes: Collins, Murkowski

Turk passes CLOTURE 98-2:

NAYs ---2
Hawley (R-MO)
Paul (R-KY)

Why do you list Manchin as a Republican?

Because I do not consider him to be a Democrat these days.

This doesn't make any sense. Manchin voted for the American Rescue Plan, while every single Republican-including Collins and Murkowski-voted against it. And he is still a member of the Democratic caucus; without him, the Democrats would not have the majority.

No real democrat would oppose Neera Tanden or lead an 11 hour filibuster of the covid relief bill. Enough Said. He  is simply a Republican who caucuses with the Democrats.

No real Republican would enable Chuck Schumer being Majority Leader & Joe Biden being a successful President. eNoUgH sAiD. Just because he’s not as left-wing a Democrat as you’d like him to be doesn’t mean he’s not a Democrat; indeed, he’s about as much of a Democrat at the federal level as representing his state can possibly afford him to be.

[brucejoel99]

https://twitter.com/thehill/status/1375448469293391879?s=21

lol

At least she seems extremely qualified for the position, so I'm all for it even if this is just a political move to get Manchin's support for an upcoming crucial piece of legislation &/or filibuster elimination. I mean, hell, if the worst sh*t that Trump had ever done was to give Ann Romney a job on the Utah Regional Commission or something like that, then I'd personally feel a hell of a lot better about the direction of the planet than I do today.

[brucejoel99]

Lander was forgotten by the Senate.

Love the photo to show the diversity.

It's truly a Cabinet that looks like America (sans stupid, mean-spirited, &/or evil Americans, who are neither represented here nor should they be, so in that sense, this is a Cabinet that looks even better than America: a Cabinet that looks like the best of America)!

[brucejoel99]

Not technically Cabinet or Cabinet-level but a relatively big name for a position you might not otherwise give a 2nd glance:

https://twitter.com/TB_Times/status/1383239754242691079

[brucejoel99]

Ask & ye shall receive, Tender! Lander's confirmation hearing is scheduled for Apr. 29th:

https://www.politico.com/newsletters/transition-playbook/2021/04/20/bidens-last-man-standing-492536

[brucejoel99]

So it turns out that Lander wasn't just "forgotten," Tender. Consideration of his nomination was delayed as a result of Senators being concerned about his multiple meetings with one Jeffrey Epstein & any potential relationship therewith:

https://www.politico.com/news/2021/04/22/biden-top-scientist-met-jeffrey-epstein-confirmation-484159

[brucejoel99]

https://mobile.twitter.com/SenateCloakroom/status/1387873235778347011

My KING is alive!

[brucejoel99]

New judicial nominees from Biden (the former 2 both for the Western Dist. of WA, & the lattermost for the Dist. of NJ):

https://twitter.com/Arianedevogue/status/1387734899944263680

[brucejoel99]

Once again, not technically a Cabinet pick but an excellent appointment nonetheless:

https://twitter.com/nytimes/status/1389316359557898242

[brucejoel99]

This is great and all but when are the judges being confirmed? Is there a thread for that?

Maybe a couple late this month but no large numbers until at least summer. Judges have a more comprehensive vetting process and don't really take priority over key administration staff.

Trump only did 5 before the 2017 August Recess.

For Trump we just did everything on one thread generally but if people want a separate thread for judges I guess that could be arranged.

Speaking of judges, Biden announced the nominations of 6 new ones just today, meaning that he's now nominated 20 judges since he took office. For context, if anybody's interested, Trump had only managed to nominate 9 - incl. Gorsuch - at this point in his term (as Ron Klain so giddily pointed out today), as had W., while Obama had only nominated 3.

[brucejoel99]

This is great and all but when are the judges being confirmed? Is there a thread for that?

https://twitter.com/fedjudges/status/1391845300566958089?s=20

Per Politico, the 5 nominees from the 4/28 hearing have been added to the agenda for tomorrow's meeting, meaning that they can be confirmed before the Senate leaves DC for Memorial Day.

[brucejoel99]

Somewhat unrelated but, maybe we won't see a SCOTUS confirmation battle

https://twitter.com/mattyglesias/status/1394247477650468864

Not necessarily: with just 5 months to go 'til OT2021, Sotomayor's still hired only 2 clerks, even though she was fully hired up for OT2020 by Jan. 2020 (i.e., at least 9 months beforehand), & even though 2 clerks is more than the 1 that a retired justice is allotted, only hiring 2 by now is still a plausible indicator that she's at least considering retirement this year, given that were she to do so, she'd just work with 1 of the clerks this fall while either deferring the other to OT2022 (i.e., what Kennedy did with his OT2018 clerks) or transferring them over to either Breyer or Kagan's chambers, so a (nevertheless surprising) Sotomayor retirement this year followed by a Breyer retirement next summer still can't be ruled out as of yet.

[brucejoel99]

Martin's actually retiring instead of going senior, but either way, Stacey Abrams is gonna have a circuit judge in the family:

https://twitter.com/johnpcollinsjr2/status/1394613086359855104

[brucejoel99]

Somewhat unrelated but, maybe we won't see a SCOTUS confirmation battle

https://twitter.com/mattyglesias/status/1394247477650468864

Not necessarily: with just 5 months to go 'til OT2021, Sotomayor's still hired only 2 clerks, even though she was fully hired up for OT2020 by Jan. 2020 (i.e., at least 9 months beforehand), & even though 2 clerks is more than the 1 that a retired justice is allotted, only hiring 2 by now is still a plausible indicator that she's at least considering retirement this year, given that were she to do so, she'd just work with 1 of the clerks this fall while either deferring the other to OT2022 (i.e., what Kennedy did with his OT2018 clerks) or transferring them over to either Breyer or Kagan's chambers, so a (nevertheless surprising) Sotomayor retirement this year followed by a Breyer retirement next summer still can't be ruled out as of yet.

I was about to post a smartass reply along the lines of "why would she retire so soon" thinking she wasn't that old, but she is a bit older than I thought. I still don't think she's going to retire yet, she still has time left.

Yeah, & she's at a heightened medical risk compared to your avg. 66-year-old justice due to the pre-existing condition from which she suffers (type 1 diabetes), so she might not be as likely to make it to ~82/83 as somebody like Breyer was, & based on how the dynamics of presidential/Senate control play out after the midterms, that could mean that this summer (or next) could very well be her last chance to retire with a Democratic president capable of nominating a liberal replacement who could be confirmed by a Democratic Senate. Otherwise, if the Democrats lose the Senate next fall, then after that, she could be risking being trapped on the Court for who knows how long, just like Marshall, Brennan, & RBG were: wanting to retire but ideologically unable to because there's either a Republican president or a Democratic president who can't get a liberal nominee confirmed with a Republican Senate, & we know how well trying to wait worked for them.

[brucejoel99]

https://twitter.com/CraigCaplan/status/1395401137466060803