U.S. President-Elect Donald Trump has thus far picked his selection for seven out of 15 Cabinet Department heads. Each of these individuals must be confirmed by the Senate. The Senate confirmation process can begin when the newly elected 115th Congress convenes on January 2, 2017.
Commerce Secretary: Wilbur Ross. Billionaire Ross is a 79-year-old American investor specializing in distressed assets. He was an early supporter of Trump and was part of Trump’s campaign economic team as senior advisor on trade. He supports the Trump proposal to drastically cut taxes on corporations and is a big-fan of deregulation. Ross has said that the United States must free itself of “bad trade agreement” and has advocated to impose steep tariffs on China. He helped Trump avoid bankruptcy in the 1980s.
Defense Secretary: General James N. Mattis. Retired Marine General Mattis, who retired as chief of U.S. Central Command in 2013, has often said that Washington lacks an overall strategy in the Middle East, opting to instead handle issues in an ineffective one-by-one manner. “Responding to ‘political Islam’ is the major security issue facing the United States,” Mattis has said, speaking about the separate challenges of the Islamic State and Iranian-backed terrorism. In order to take the job, Congress will need to pass legislation to bypass a federal law that states that defense secretaries must not have been on active duty in the previous seven years.
Education Secretary: Betsy DeVos. DeVos is a Michigan billionaire, conservative activist, and former chairwoman of the Michigan Republican Party. She has helped change the education landscape in many states, spending millions of dollars in a successful push to expand voucher programs that give families taxpayer dollars to pay for private and religious schools. This pick suggests that Trump will follow through with his campaign promised to expand “school choice,” including vouchers and charter schools in an effort to break up a public school system that he has called a “government-run monopoly.”
Health and Human Services Secretary: Rep. Tom Price (R-GA). Price is a six-term congressman and chairman of the House Budget Committee. He was an orthopedic surgeon before entering politics. Trump has stated that Price will lead the effort to repeal and replace the Affordable Health Care Act
Attorney General, Department of Justice: Senator Jeff Sessions (R-AL). Sessions is a strong proponent of strict immigration enforcement, reduced spending, and tough-on-crime measures. His nomination for a federal judgeship in 1986 was rejected because of racially charged comments.
Transportation Secretary: Elaine L. Chao. Chao was labor secretary under President George W. Bush. She was the first Asian-born women ever to serve in a U.S. president’s Cabinet. Trump has said that infrastructure redevelopment will be a priority of his first 100 days in office. Chao is married to Majority Leader Senator Mitch McConnell (R-KY) and has experience, both politically and personally, in navigating the competing centers of power in Washington, D.C. and a fixture of the Republican establishment in D.C.
Treasury Secretary: Steven Mnuchin. Mnuchin, 53, is an investor and former Goldman Sachs executive and hedge fund manager, as well as a Hollywood financier. He served as finance chairman for the Trump campaign and has said he would look to cut corporate tax rates as a way to increase economic growth. He will assist in the rewrite of the tax code and oversee the IRS.
In addition, President-Elect Trump has selected Nikki R. Haley, governor of South Carolina, as his nominee for U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations. The U.S. Ambassador represents the interests of the United States at the Security Council on issues such as Middle East peace to nuclear proliferation. The U.N. Ambassador is second to the secretary of state. Haley’s nomination requires Senate confirmation.
Trump has also selected Representative Mike Pompeo (R-KS), member of the House Intelligence Committee and former Army officer, as his nominee for C.I.A. Director. The C.I.A Director position requires Senate confirmation.
Michael T. Flynn has been selected as National Security Adviser. Flynn is a retired Army lieutenant general and former director of the Defense Intelligence Agency.
According to The Washington Post, following are the names being floated for Secretary of Agriculture.
- Sam Brownback, Kansas governor
- Chuck Conner, CEO of the National Council of Farmer Cooperatives
- Dave Heineman, Former Nebraska governor
- Tim Huelskamp, Outgoing Kansas congressman
- Senator Heidi Heitkamp (D-ND)
- Sid Miller, Texas Ag Commissioner
- Sonny Perdue, Former Georgia governor
