Biden's Cabinet

Art and story by Malia Gaviola

A mulitcultural cabinet that aims to match America's diverse population and shape its future.

CABINET

President Joe Biden's 2021

A mulitcultural cabinet that aims to match America's diverse population and shape its future.

CABINET

President Joe Biden's 2021

Click on the person to see what their position is and read a biography

Sworn in Jan. 20, 2021, the 46th President Joe Biden & Vice President Kamala Harris needed a cabinet that would support them with thier duties to the American People.

Sworn in Jan. 20, 2021, the 46th President Joe Biden & Vice President Kamala Harris needed a cabinet that would support them with their duties to the American People.

Vice President Kamala Harris Harris was born on Oct. 20, 1964, in Oakland, California. After earning her law degree from Hastings University in 1989, she became Oakland's deputy district attorney in 1990. Harris would retain this position for eight years and later was promoted to the district attorney general for Oakland in 2004. She was elected as California's attorney general and became the first woman and African American to hold this position in 2010. In 2016, Harris became the second Black woman and the first Indian American to be a U.S. Senator. She was a Democratic Presidential candidate for the 2020 election, and after she dropped out of the race, she partnered with Joe Biden's candidacy for President. On Jan. 20, 2021, Kamala Harris was the first African American and South Asian woman to be elected and sworn in as Vice President of the United States of America.

President Joseph R. Biden Born Nov. 20, 1942, Biden grew up in Scranton, Pennsylvania. In 1972, he became the fifth-youngest U.S. senator elected in the nation's history at the age of 29. He served on the United States Senate from 1973 to 2000 and for a few years held the position of the chairman of the Committee on Foreign Relations. He originally ran for President (via the Democratic party) in 1978 but later dropped out of the race a year later. 20 years after his initial presidential campaign, Biden ran again in 2007 and was later selected by President Barack Obama to be his running mate. Biden served as Vice President of the United States of America from 2008 to 2016. After winning the Presidential race against President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence with his running mate, Kamala Harris, he was sworn in to be the U.S.A.'s 46th President on January 20, 2021.

-President Joe Biden

-President Joe Biden

“I’m going to keep my commitment that the administration, both in the White House and outside in the Cabinet, is going to look like the country.”

“I’m going to keep my commitment that the administration, both in the White House and outside in the Cabinet, is going to look like the country.”

Click on the person to see what their position is and read a biography

From the first woman to be the Secretary of the Treasurey, to the first African American Secretary of Defense, as well as the first Native American woman as the Secretary of the Interior, and the first Latino to be the Secretary of Health and Human Services, President Biden's cabinet is making history with the appointment of its diverse nominees.

Secretary of the Treasury, Janet Yellen After teaching and researching macroeconomics at the University of California, Berkley, she was the first woman to serve on the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System. Subsequent to her three years dedicated to the central bank of the United States (1994-1997), Pres. Bill Clinton recruited her to his Council of Economic Advisers, which she stayed on until 1999. In 2013, she became the head of the Federal Reserve System for Pres. Barack Obama's cabinet. She was nominated as Pres. Joe Biden's pick for the secretary of the U.S. Department of the Treasury and is the first woman to hold this position. Confirmed 84-15 on January 25, 2021

Secretary of Defense, General Lloyd J. Austin III After beginning his military service as an infantry second lieutenant in 1975, Austin rose to become a four-star general. Austin was also the former commander of the U.S. Central Command and was involved in many notable operations such as Iraqi Freedom, Enduring Freedom, and New Dawn. His military service ended in 2016. He received "several awards and decorations during his military service, including the Defense Distinguished Service Medal (with Three Oak Leaf Clusters), the Distinguished Service Medal (with Two Oak Leaf Clusters), and the Silver Star." ( "Lloyd Austin", ballotpedia.org) Austin was sworn in as Pres. Joe Biden's Secretary of Defense in January 2021 and is the first African American man to hold this position. Confirmed 93-2 on January 22, 2021

Secretary of the Interior, Debra Haaland Debra Haaland became a member of the U.S. House and representative of New Mexico's 1st Congressional District in 2019. She is also one of the first two Native American women elected to the U.S. Congress. Haaland is a current member of the Pueblo of Laguna, and with her nomination to be Pres. Joe Biden's Secretary of the Interior, she will be the first Native American woman to hold this position. Confirmed 51-40 on March 15, 2021

Secretary of Health and Human Services, Xavier Becerra Becerra served 12 consecutive terms in Congress as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives for an overall 26 years. In his time as a representative, he spoke for California's 30th (1993-2003), 31st (2003-2013), and California's 34th (2013-2017) congressional districts. He held many leadership positions while in Congress and was "the first Latino in House history to sit on the powerful Ways and Means Committee as well as the second Hispanic American to chair the House Democratic Caucus." ("BECERRA, Xavier", history.house.gov) As President Biden's nomination for the Secretary of Health and Human Services, Becerra will be the first Latino to hold this position. Confirmed 50-49 on March 18, 2021

Click on the person to see what their position is and read a biography

Biden also inducted into his Cabinet, the first out LGBTQ Cabinet Secretary. more specifically the Secretary of Transportation, as well as the first Latino and immigrant to serve as Secretary of Homeland Security.

Biden also inducted into his Cabinet, the first out LGBTQ Cabinet Secretary. more specifically the Secretary of Transportation, as well as the first Latino and immigrant to serve as Secretary of Homeland Security.

Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, Marcia Fudge Marica Fudge was the first female and first African American to be elected the mayor of Warrensville Heights, Ohio from 2000 to 2008. She has served as the representative of the 11th District of Ohio in the House of Representatives since 2008 and her current term ends in 2023. Congresswoman Fudge has served on a multitude of committees throughout her time serving as a representative, in 2019-2020 alone she was on the Committee on Education and the Workforce, Committee on House Administration, and Committee on Agriculture. She also acted as the Chair of the Subcommittee on Nutrition for each of these boards. Confirmed 66-34 on March 10, 2021

Secretary of Transportation, Pete Buttigieg Pete Buttigieg was the Mayor of South Bend, Indiana from 2012 to 2020. While he served as mayor, “Buttiege was commissioned as a Navy intelligence officer” (Nataly Pak, Quinn Scanlan, Elizabeth Thomas, abcnews.go.com). In 2014, he was deployed to Afghanistan for seven months as a counterintelligence officer and his efforts to combat terrorism earned him the Joint Service Commendation Medal. His campaign for the U.S. Presidency in 2020 made him the first openly gay man to run for President. Though he was not victorious, Buttigedge’s confirmation by the Senate dubbed him both the first out LGBTQ Cabinet secretary and Secretary of Transportation. Confirmed 86-13 on February 2, 2021

Secretary of Homeland Security, Alejandro Mayorkas Alejandro Mayorkas immigrated to the United States from Cuba in 1960 and will be the first Latino and immigrant to serve as Secretary of Homeland Security. After working in the Central District of California as an assistant U.S. Attorney from 1989 to 1998, Mayorkas became the youngest U.S. attorney in the country in 1998. During this time, Mayorkas mainly “tried cases involving financial fraud, public corruption, and violent crime” (ballotpedia.org). During the Obama administration, he served four years as the director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services and later became the deputy secretary of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security in 2013 until 2016. Confirmed 56-43 on February 2, 2021

U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, Linda Thomas-Greenfield Linda Thomas-Greenfield’s career in Foreign Service for the United States is one that lasted 35 years, from 1982 to 2017. Within this time spent serving America, she was an ambassador to Liberia from 2008 to 2012 and was posted to Switzerland, Pakistan, Kenya, The Gamba, Nigeria, and Jamaica. During the Obama administration, she was appointed as the assistant secretary for the Bureau of African Affairs as well as the Director-General of Foreign Service, where she would become one of the five African Americans in history to hold that position. Linda Thomas-Greenfield was confirmed by the Senate as the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations in February 2021. Confirmed 78-20 on February 23, 2021.

The only positions left to confirm by the Senate are Eric Lander as the Science Advisor and a nominee taking Neera Tanden's spot as Management & Budget.

The only positions left to confirm by the Senate are Eric Lander as the Science Advisor and a nominee taking Neera Tanden's spot as Management & Budget.

21 of Biden's 23 Cabinet-level nominees requiring Senate approval have been confirmed as of March 30, 2021.

21 of Biden's 23 Cabinet-level nominees requiring Senate approval have been confirmed as of March 30, 2021.

AWAITING NEW NOMINEE

Click on the person to see what their position is and read an update on thier confirmation status

Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, Michael Regan Confirmed 66-34 on March 10, 2021

Administrator of the Small Business Administration, Isabel Guzman Confirmed 81-17 on March 16, 2021

U.S. Trade Representative, Katherine Tai 98-0 Confirmed on March 17, 2021

Director of National Intelligence, Avril Haines Confirmed 84-10 on January 20, 2021

Council of Economic Advisers Chair, Cecilia Rouse Confirmed 95-4 on March 2, 2021

White House Chief of Staff, Ron Klain No confirmation needed

Secretary of State, Tony Blinken Confirmed 78-22 on January 26, 2021

TO BE REPLACED WITH A NEW NOMINEE Director of the Office of Management and Budget, Neera Tanden Though Neera Tanden was appointed by President Biden to become the country's first woman of color and South Asian American director of the Office of Management and Budget, her nomination was withdrawn due to a lack of votes in her favor. With a history of using social media to criticize lawmakers in the past, many key Republican Senators expressed their opposition to Tanden's confirmation. Tanden withdrew her nomination on March 2, 2021, and is expected to still have a role in Biden's administration.

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Picture of Joe Biden credit: The White House from Washington, DC, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Picture of Kamala Harris credit: photo by Adam Schultz / Biden for President

Bondarenko, Peter. "Janet Yellen". Encyclopedia Britannica, 26 Jan. 2021, https://www.britannica.com/biography/Janet-Yellen. Accessed 22 February 2021.

"Lloyd Austin - Ballotpedia". Ballotpedia, 2021, https://ballotpedia.org/Lloyd_Austin.

"Rep. Deb Haaland Bio: In Her Own Words – History, Policies, Record". Representative Debra Haaland, 2021, https://haaland.house.gov/media/in-the-news/rep-deb-haaland-bio-her-own-words-history-policies-record.

"BECERRA, Xavier | US House Of Representatives: History, Art & Archives". History.House.Gov, 2021, https://history.house.gov/People/Detail/9147.

References "Alejandro Mayorkas". Homeland Security, 2021, https://www.dhs.gov/person/alejandro-mayorkas. Accessed 31 Mar 2021.

"Thomas-Greenfield, Linda". U.S. Department Of State, 2021, https://2009-2017.state.gov/r/pa/ei/biog/189469.htm. News, ABC.

"Pete Buttigieg: Everything You Need To Know About The 2020 Presidential Candidate". ABC News, 2021, https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/peter-buttigieg/story?id=60731298.

Phil Mattingly, CNN. "White House Pulls Tanden Nomination". CNN, 2021, https://www.cnn.com/2021/03/02/politics/neera-tanden-nomination-pulled/index.html.

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Bibliography of Sources

Picture of Washington D.C. Capitol Building credit: Capitol building at Washington DC - USA- photo uploaded to Wikimedia Commons by diego_cue