Former Democratic presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg speaks as US President-elect Joe Biden looks on after he was nominated to be Secretary of Transportation (Getty/Kevin Lamarque)
Pete Buttigieg is poised for a swift confirmation hearing on Thursday (21 January), just one day after Joe Biden takes office.
The former South Bend mayor and presidential hopeful requires confirmation by the Senate for his new role as secretary of transportation, which will make him the first out gay cabinet member to be Senate-confirmed.
Controversial gay Trump loyalist Richard Grenell previously occupied a cabinet seat on an acting basis for three months while another nominee was approved by the Senate, but no out LGBT+ person has ever held a full-time role.
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Environmental groups in Pennsylvania are expressing support for President Elect Joe Biden’s pick of Michael Regan to lead the Environmental Protection Agency.
If confirmed, Regan would be the first black man to head the EPA. A native of North Carolina, he worked in the Clinton and George W. Bush administrations before becoming the head of North Carolina’s Department of Environmental Quality in 2017. At that job, he worked on climate change, coal ash, and environmental justice issues.
Joe Minott, executive director of the Philadelphia-based Clean Air Council, says he thinks Regan was a good choice to lead the agency given the Biden administration’s focus on addressing climate and environmental racism.