If she wins in November, Vice President Kamala Harris may face a hostile, Republican-controlled Senate in no mood to confirm the senior Cabinet officials she’ll need to run her administration.

Anticipating that scenario, Harris’ team is exploring whether to keep in place some of the Biden administration officials who’ve already been confirmed by the Senate and wouldn’t need to face the gauntlet again, four people familiar with her transition planning said.

Her aides are also looking at the option of initially retaining some current officials so that she’d have more time to make staffing decisions. With only a few months to build a campaign after abruptly replacing President Joe Biden at the top of the ticket, Harris has had little time to focus on the makeup of a new administration, the people familiar with the planning said.


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  • @gsfraley
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    17913 hours ago

    Whatever happens, I hope she keeps Lina Khan for FTC, that’s the appointment I care the most about.

    • @barsquid
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      97 hours ago

      Fewer Garlands, more Khans.

      • @[email protected]
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        33 hours ago

        Fucking brace yourself for all the “will you prosecute Donald Trump as attorney general?”s

        • Logi
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          21 hour ago

          Just lie and then do it anyway. It worked to corrupt SCOTUS, it should work here.

    • @rockSlayer
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      913 hours ago

      Khan is a good one, I’m personally invested in hoping that Jennifer Abruzzo stays in the NLRB

  • @[email protected]
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    4212 hours ago

    I love how if Republicans win they get to shove through every fever dream nightmare thing they want, but if Democrats win they can still have at least 2 years of absofuckinglutely nothing…

    Yay… :(

    • @Telodzrum
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      2012 hours ago

      Yet another reason to increase the size of the House to 1000 members.

      • @barsquid
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        57 hours ago

        I think this one is the Senate? The House should be uncapped though.

        • @Telodzrum
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          26 hours ago

          Th OP article is the Senate, you’re right. The House is the easier fix, though.

            • @TheHotze
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              12 hours ago

              To be fair, an uncapped house has been made much more viable with technology that we developed over the last hundred years. Modern sound systems, architecture, and computers are all wonderful.

      • Match!!
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        27 hours ago

        increase the size of the house to 100 million members

  • @Rapidcreek
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    3613 hours ago

    Fun fact: since all appointees serve at the the pleasure of the President, all Secretaries and under Secretaries write a letter of resignation dated on the day the new President is sworn in. It’s up to the new President if they’re accepted or not.

    • @Telodzrum
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      512 hours ago

      It’s common to do this even when a President wins reelection.

      • @Rapidcreek
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        412 hours ago

        But, then you know if it will be rejected or not. Most often it will be rejected.

  • @[email protected]
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    -911 hours ago

    That seems like a failing strategy, cabinet members are likely already looking for their next job.

    • @[email protected]
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      1510 hours ago

      This is if dems lose the senate control. New cabinet members have to be approved by the senate

      So by keeping old cabinet members, you avoid having to go through the senate again and being blocked by republicans

      • @[email protected]
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        39 hours ago

        Cabinet members are looking before the election though. They are out of a job if trump wins. They are out of a job if Harris wins + the Senate. They may not be out of a job if Harris wins and the Senate goes Republican. That’s not good odds to stick around for.

        • @[email protected]
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          79 hours ago

          There is quite a bit of time between election and inauguration. Election is early November, inauguration is in early January

          Even if dems win the senate it doesn’t mean they’ll necessarily replace 100% of everyone either. Just opens the options to replace some people. I’m sure the cabinet members would be informed of how likely they are to keep their job

          • @[email protected]
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            23 hours ago

            They also aren’t getting regular jobs, there can be narrow windows to join or take months to find something. If you know in 6 months it’s likely you won’t have a job it’s time to start hunting for a new one. It’s likely at least one cabinet member leaves before the election.