December 1st – Biden, the “president-elect” of the United States, has announced a series of nominations and appointments for core positions in the new government for several days. According to an article published on CNN on November 30, Biden’s personnel appointment basically met earlier expectations of relevant candidates and “diversity” commitments, and the article further exposed several “first in history” in Biden’s new team.
The first female finance minister
Former Fed chairman Janet Yellen was formally nominated by Biden as Secretary of the Treasury. If the nomination is approved by the Senate, Yellen will become the first woman in the United States to serve as Secretary of the Treasury.
Yellen, 74, is a Jewish economist with a doctorate in economics from Yale University. She served as chairman of the White House Economic Advisers Committee during former President Clinton’s presidency. Yellen has worked for the Federal Reserve for many years, and has successively served as the president of the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco and the vice chairman of the Federal Reserve. In 2014, Yellen, who was nominated by then President Obama, became the first female chairman in the history of the Federal Reserve.
The first African-American deputy secretary of the Treasury
Walley Adeyemo, a macroeconomist and national security adviser, was nominated as the United States Deputy Treasury Secretary, and is expected to become the first African-American deputy secretary of the Treasury in the United States. Adeyemo was born in 1981. He served as a senior adviser to the international economy during Obama’s term and is currently the chairman of the Obama Foundation.
The first Spanish-American White House social secretary
Carlos Elizondo, the social secretary of the Bidens, was appointed White House social secretary. He is expected to become the first Hispanic White House social secretary in American history. During Clinton’s administration, Elizondo served in the White House and the Office of the Director of the United States Protocol Division.
The first female Director of National Intelligence
Avril Haines was nominated as the Director of National Intelligence. If the nomination is confirmed, she will become the first woman to serve as the director of national intelligence. Haynes is currently the chairman of the National Security Committee, which is responsible for formulating the government’s national security and foreign policy. She served as assistant to the president and the chief deputy national security adviser under Obama.
First Latino American Secretary of Homeland Security
With Senate approval, Alejandro Mayorkas will become the first Latino immigrant to serve as Secretary of Homeland Security. He served as Deputy Secretary of Homeland Security during the Obama administration and served as the Director of the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services Bureau of the Department of Homeland Security. During his tenure, he supervised the implementation of the Deferred Repatriation Program for Children’s Entry, an administrative measure of the Obama administration to protect young undocumented immigrants who went to the United States as children from deportation.
First candidate for chairman of the Economic Advisers of African-descendant women
Labor economist Cecilia Rouse has been nominated by the chairman of the Economic Advisory Committee, and is expected to become the first African-American woman in American history to lead the department that provides economic policy advice to the president. She is currently the dean of the School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University and is an economist specializing in education and equality issues. Ross was a member of the White House Economic Advisory Committee under Obama’s term and served on the National Economic Committee of the Clinton administration.
First candidate for Director of Office of Administration and Budget of South Asian American descent
Neera Tanden, nominated as Director of the U.S. Office of Administration and Budget, is expected to become the first director of the Department’s history of color and South Asian Americans. Tanton served under the Obama administration and the Clinton administration, was a senior adviser to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services on health care reform, and served as the head of domestic policy for the Obama campaign.
