By Melanie Arter | January 19, 2021 | 9:26am EST
Pennsylvania Health Secretary Rachel Levine (Screenshot)
President-elect Joe Biden nominated Pennsylvania Health Secretary Rachel Levine to be assistant secretary of the Department Health and Human Services on Tuesday.
If approved, Levine would become the first openly transgender Senate-confirmed federal official, The Hill reports.
“Dr. Rachel Levine will bring the steady leadership and essential expertise we need to get people through this pandemic no matter their zip code, race, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, or disability and meet the public health needs of our country in this critical moment and beyond,” Biden said in a statement.
The Biden Administration Brings State Climate Leadership to the White House
January 19, 2021, 12:30 pm
Download the PDF here.
There are many reasons to be inspired by the nominees that President-elect Joe Biden has selected to lead his all-of-government mobilization against the climate crisis. The Cabinet is a diverse and incredibly accomplished group that looks like America. It is capable of fulfilling the mandate that Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris won decisively in November: to confront the climate crisis with a clean energy recovery that will create millions of good union jobs and build a just, equitable, and prosperous economy.
One of the most exciting things about this slate of “climate Cabinet” nominees is the experience and success in state-level climate leadership it will bring to the federal government. After all, for the past half-decade and longer, states have been laying a roadmap for bold, nationwide climate action.
President-elect Joe Biden nominated Pennsylvania Health Secretary Rachel Levine to a senior role at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services that would make her the first openly transgender person to hold a Senate-confirmed position.
California Attorney General Xavier Becerra and other state attorney generals are challenging the Trump administration's rollback of Endangered Species Act Protections.
Joe Biden has guaranteed his administration would "look like the country." As he enters the White House, he's taking steps towards keeping that promise assembling a historically diverse slate of cabinet picks and other top-level nominees.