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On Monday, it was reported that “President-elect Joe Biden will nominate retired four-star Army general Lloyd J. Austin to be secretary of defense.” AP News
Also on Monday, it was announced that “Biden has picked California Attorney General Xavier Becerra to be his health secretary.” AP News
Last week, the Wall Street Journal reported that “Biden has chosen Neera Tanden, head of the Center for American Progress, a center-left think tank, to serve as director of the Office of Management and Budget.” Wall Street Journal
The right is generally critical of Biden’s choices.
“On the one hand, despite his Democratic pedigree, Austin warned the Obama administration that Iran's activities didn't change after the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action. He also warned Obama that a full withdrawal from Afghanistan could leave a disastrous power vacuum. On the other hand, Austin's role in Obama's disastrous Syria rebel program could prove a nonstarter for Republicans. Furthermore, Austin comes with all the same ties to the commercial defense industry that besieged Michele Flournoy, the former front-runner for the job.”
Tiana Lowe, Washington Examiner
Regarding Becerra, “If Joe Biden actually wants to promote peace in the culture wars, his decision to nominate Becerra as Secretary of Health and Human Services is a grave mistake. Biden could theoretically govern as a pro-choice president without waging an all-out government-led war against pro-lifers…
“Becerra, for instance, is pressing felony charges against two pro-life activists who went undercover to expose Planned Parenthood’s trade in the parts of aborted babies… As David Daleiden, one of the two facing possible jail time from Becerra, has pointed out, his is the only case ever to be prosecuted in the 60-year history of California's undercover video-recording law…
“Becerra spent 25 years in Congress, where he never voted against the wishes of abortion giant Planned Parenthood or the other leading abortion lobby, NARAL Pro-Choice America. Becerra unfailingly received a 100% from these lobby groups.”
Timothy P. Carney, Washington Examiner
“Becerra, a former congressman, has no experience working at HHS and no medical background. He has never been chief executive of a state, or even of a large, complex organization. ‘Some medical experts, who have been pushing the Biden team to name people with medical or public health expertise to serve in health leadership positions, were caught off guard — and unhappily so — by the news of Mr. Becerra’s selection,’ the New York Times reports…
“Biden ran on a platform of bringing the country together. Becerra is uniquely ill-suited to accomplish that task at HHS. If a Republican president — in the middle of a pandemic — selected a culture warrior with no experience of working at HHS or of governing a state, the blowback from Congress and the press would be intense.”
John McCormack, National Review
“Mr. Becerra has no expertise in how drug and insurance markets function, let alone experience running a health-care bureaucracy. His apparent primary qualification is that he’s filed 100 some lawsuits against the Trump Administration, though he’s won relatively few and lost on health-care issues…
“The Biden team is trying to dispel Republican unease by saying he won’t impose Medicare for All. Yet he supports federal waivers to let states implement single-payer and wants to expand government control over health care far more than the Obama Administration did. He is likely to reject waivers allowing states more flexibility to manage their Medicaid programs…
“He’d roll back Trump HHS regulations expanding short-term health plans, protecting religious liberty of providers, and increasing choice in Medicare Advantage. In sum, he will use government funds as a stick against insurers, providers and states.”
Editorial Board, Wall Street Journal
Finally, regarding Tanden, “Wherever you stand on the political spectrum, you can find a reason to dislike [her]… [Democrats dislike] her organization’s center accepting nearly $2.5 million from the United Arab Emirates to fund its National Security and International Policy initiative, or her hosting of an interview of Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, or her Twitter fights, or her former employees who say she’s a bad leader…
“Republicans [dislike] her theorizing that Russian hackers changed votes for Hillary Clinton to votes for Trump. And Republican senators are likely to remember every last attack she’s ever made against them… Not everyone in Washington likes [the] other nominees, but they aren’t verbal bomb-throwers who have made a lot of enemies on Capitol Hill the way Tanden has… Is it possible Biden or someone on his team is shrewd enough to nominate Tanden as a lightning rod, and to ensure Republican senators focus their attention on an OMB director nominee, instead of other cabinet nominees?”
Jim Geraghty, National Review
The left is generally supportive of Becerra but skeptical of Austin and Tanden.
The left is generally supportive of Becerra but skeptical of Austin and Tanden.
“It is only the third time a president has requested a waiver since Congress passed the National Security Act in 1947, which requires a prospective secretary to wait seven years after ending active duty as a commissioned officer. President Harry Truman appointed George Marshall in 1950, and Mr. Trump chose James Mattis as his first defense secretary. General Austin is a capable and respected former commander of Central Command, but he retired only in 2016. That’s not long enough…
“Marshall understood that military training and experience can be inadequate preparation for the political challenges facing a defense secretary. Marshall, like General Mattis, served because the president asked him to do so… Biden should not put Lloyd Austin, nor any other recently retired general or admiral, in the same position… Biden no doubt will want to streamline civilian oversight of war plans, increase transparency surrounding military operations and chart a new and perhaps very different vision for the defense budget… After a tumultuous four years, we need civilian leadership and a return to normalcy.”
Jim Golby, New York Times
Regarding Becerra, “[he] is a good choice to lead HHS in this moment for a number of reasons, both practical and symbolic. Born in Sacramento to working-class parents who were raised in Mexico, Becerra would be the first Latino to lead HHS if he’s confirmed by the Senate. His background gives him valuable insight into underserved Americans; as Peter V. Lee, executive director of Covered California, put it: ‘He’s lived in Latino communities where people don’t have access to healthcare.’…
“His work defending the ACA and how it’s been implemented in California position Becerra well to advance Biden’s goal of not just repairing the damage done by the Trump administration, but building on the law to make coverage available and affordable to more Americans. Say goodbye to the legal contortions HHS went through trying to knock more people off Medicaid, deny contraceptive coverage to more women, promote junk insurance plans and let healthcare providers discriminate against LGBTQ Americans…
“Say hello to renewed efforts to promote the ACA’s subsidized insurance coverage, persuade states to extend Medicaid to more low-income residents, narrow the racial gap in healthcare outcomes and create a public alternative to private health insurance plans.”
Editorial Board, Los Angeles Times
Regarding Tanden, “The same Republican Party that complains Democrats are too ‘politically correct’ and that assiduously courts supporters whose mantra is ‘f--- your feelings’ now wants us to believe it's scandalized by a woman who rightly identified several Republican senators as ‘enablers’ of the President and using a cheeky hashtag to mock Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell…
“The American people chose Joe Biden as president, and as president he really should get to pick the members of his own team -- so long as they're qualified for the job, which Tanden is. A Yale-educated lawyer, she served as policy director for then Sen. Hillary Clinton, was the domestic policy director for the Obama-Biden campaign and was a senior adviser for health reform in Obama's Department of Health and Human Services. She helped draft the 2010 Affordable Care Act. Branding her a Twitter meanie whose online sparring makes her unfit for duty is hypocritical and dishonest.”
Jill Filipovic, CNN
Critics note that “Despite Tanden’s push for Social Security cuts, Beltway liberal groups whose mission is to defend Social Security lauded her think tank. Despite Tanden having her organization rake in cash from Wall Street, Amazon, billionaires, and (previously) foreign governments, a Ralph Nader–founded, all-purpose consumer advocacy group praised CAP as ‘one of our key partners in the fight to tax corporations and the rich, rein in monopoly power, tackle government corruption, and much more.’ Despite Tanden busting a union at CAP, two national union leaders in Washington lauded her…
“This culture of acquiescence gives swamp creatures a free pass — and it may not just deliver an incrementalist Biden administration that takes progressives for granted and consequently fails to address national emergencies. It could also help permanently change what is even considered politically possible in the future.”
David Sirota and Andrew Perez, Jacobin Magazine
A libertarian's take
“In 2017, Becerra's office won a $300,000 legal settlement from Gatorade because of a mobile game that he argued slandered the good name of water. Gatorade had distributed a free mobile game featuring sprinter Usain Bolt. As part of the game, players were encouraged to run through Gatorade logos and avoid patches of water. Becerra actually accused the company of engaging in ‘false advertising’ and trying to convince impressionable children and teens that water is bad for them. This is how stupid Becerra thinks people are…
“It seems like such a little and petty thing, and it is. That's the problem. It is an indication of a person who has very little respect for people's individual health choices, other than for abortion… His record within the state of California shows that Becerra is very happy to use the nanny state power of government to control what you do with your body and property.”
Scott Shackford, Reason
