The opposition to Biden's cabinet

1 big thing

Axios

News

4.0 • 2K Ratings

🗓️ 11 December 2020

⏱️ 9 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

It's been a busy week for President-Elect Biden, who is in the middle of naming his cabinet picks. Marcia Fudge for Housing and Urban Development, Xavier Becerra for Health and Human Services, and retired general Lloyd Austin for Defense Secretary. But some of those announcements are getting a lot of backlash. Plus, enforcing who gets a COVID vaccine first. And, Jonathan Swan’s scoop on President Trump’s expansive pardon plans. Guests: Axios' Hans Nichols, Caitlin Owens and Jonathan Swan. Credits: "Axios Today" is produced in partnership with Pushkin Industries. The team includes Niala Boodhoo, Carol Wu, Cara Shillenn, Nuria Marquez Martinez, Dan Bobkoff, Sara Kehaulani Goo, Alex Sugiura and Naomi Shavin. Music is composed by Evan Viola. You can reach us at podcasts@axios.com. Go deeper: Biden faces battle to land Austin at Pentagon Jumping the line for a vaccine will be pretty easy Scoop: Trump plots mass pardons, even to people not asking The Geminids are coming Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Good morning. Welcome to Axios today. It's Friday, December 11th. I'm Niala Boodoo.
0:07.0	Here's how we're making you smarter today. Jonathan Swan scoop on President Trump's expansive
0:12.4	pardon plans,
0:13.8	plus how to enforce who gets a COVID vaccine.
0:17.8	But first, increasing opposition
0:20.0	to some Biden cabinet nominees
0:22.4	is today's one big thing.
0:24.4	It's been a busy week for President-elect Biden who's naming his cabinet picks.
0:31.0	Marsha Fudge for Housing and Urban Development,
0:33.4	Javier Bekara for Health and Human Services, but some announcements haven't been
0:38.3	going smoothly. Here to walk us through the controversies is Axios political
0:41.8	reporter Hans Nichols.
0:43.6	Hans, I think the most controversial to date has been Biden's pick for Defense Secretary,
0:49.1	Retired General Lloyd Austin.
0:51.0	Why has this been such a difficult choice for some people?
0:54.0	Because he needs a waiver to the 1947 National Security Act
0:58.0	to allow someone who was in uniform for the last seven years
1:02.0	to be defense secretary.
1:03.4	And that sets up almost a three stage process.
1:06.1	You have a vote in the House, you have a vote in the Senate,
1:07.9	and that's just on whether or not they're going to grant the waiver.
1:10.6	And then you have the broader question of,
	...

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