Biden Taps Granholm for Energy Secretary, McCarthy for White House Climate Czar
President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr. reportedly has chosen former Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm to lead the Department of Energy and former Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Gina McCarthy to serve as White House climate czar under the new administration.
A two-term governor, Granholm served from 2003-2011. During her tenure, she signed into law bipartisan clean energy and energy efficiency legislation, promoted advanced battery and renewable energy manufacturing in the state, and helped orchestrate the 2009 federal bailout of General Motors Co. and Chrysler.
McCarthy, meanwhile, ran the EPA under President Obama from 2013 to 2017. She oversaw several landmark rulemakings, including the Clean Power Plan in 2015, which set the first national standards for reducing carbon emissions from power plants.
Transition Highlights: Stimulus Deal Appears Within Reach, but Final Product Could Limit Biden in the Future
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Jan. 25, 2021, 7:44 a.m. ETJan. 25, 2021, 7:44 a.m. ET
The emerging plan would provide a one-time payment of about $600, jobless aid and rental assistance. President-elect Joe Biden will nominate Representative Deb Haaland for interior secretary.
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Speaker Nancy Pelosi in the Capitol. After months of stalemate, congressional leaders were on the verge of cementing a stimulus deal.Credit.Anna Moneymaker for The New York Times
As they closed in on a $900 billion stimulus deal, top Democrats and Republicans in Congress haggled on Thursday over a handful of remaining issues that could help determine how much power President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr. will have to act once he takes office to provide additional help for the sputtering economy.
Republicans refocus their efforts on future elections Follow Us
Question of the Day By Alex Swoyer - The Washington Times - Wednesday, December 16, 2020
Senate Republicans pivoted Wednesday from challenging the November election results to trying to ensure fair elections in the future.
“Clearly, we can’t let this go on for the next election,” Sen. Rick Scott, Florida Republican, said at a Homeland Security Committee hearing on ballot fraud and other problems at the polls.
The meeting came two days after the Electoral College affirmed the win for President-elect Joseph R. Biden, effectively rendering President Trump’s challenges moot.
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House Democratic leaders publicly gave their blessing to Ms. Haaland on Wednesday after they had expressed concern about losing another House member to the incoming administration.
Mr. Biden has already named Rep. Marcia Fudge of Ohio as his pick for secretary of Housing and Urban Development and tapped Rep. Cedric Richmond of Louisiana to be a senior adviser and director of the White House Office of Public Engagement.
Democrats are likely to hold all three seats, though their shrinking majority would be temporarily winnowed even further if and when the members leave for the new administration.
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“No matter how you feel about President Trump running for president again in 2024, there will be four years of a Biden (and perhaps Harris) presidency to get through before then. Republicans in office will have to decide what they stand for during this interim. ‘Oppose Biden’ will be part of the answer, but it is not the complete answer,” Mr. Geraghty advises.
“The complete answer of what Republicans stand for is likely to involve something that moves beyond the fights of the past four years. The answer to the question, ‘What do you stand for?’ really should not involve a particular person,” he says, suggesting Republicans at least will have one clear advantage if they can just hold on to the U.S. Senate.