Susan Rice tapped for top domestic policy role in Biden administration

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Susan Rice has been tapped by president-elect Joe Biden to run his domestic policy council, an under-the-radar but highly influential group with broad sway over the administration’s approach to issues including immigration, healthcare and racial inequality.

The move marks a surprising shift for Rice, a longtime Democratic foreign policy expert who served as President Barack Obama’s national security adviser and UN ambassador.

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Rice’s name had been floated for multiple high-ranking positions in the incoming Biden administration. She was one of the finalists to be Biden’s vice-presidential running mate. She was also considered for secretary of state.

But the Biden transition team has been wary about tapping anyone who could face a difficult confirmation process. Republicans have been eager to fight aggressively to prevent Rice from making it through the confirmation process and were expected to recall her involvement in the 2012 Benghazi attack in Libya as part of their strategy.

The domestic policy council position does not require Senate confirmation.

Biden also nominated Denis McDonough, former chief of staff to President Obama, to run the Department of Veterans Affairs, a sprawling agency that has presented organizational challenges for both parties over the years. But he never served in the armed forces, a fact noted by a leading veterans organization.

In selecting Rice and McDonough, Biden is continuing to fill his administration with prominent members of the Obama administration. He will make the formal announcements on Friday, along with his nominations of the Ohio representative Marcia Fudge to run the Department of Housing and Urban Development, Katherine Tai as US trade representative and Tom Vilsack as agriculture secretary. Vilsack filled that same role during Obama’s two terms.

“The roles they will take on are where the rubber meets the road – where competent and crisis-tested governance can make a meaningful difference in people’s lives, enhancing the dignity, equity, security, and prosperity of the day-to-day lives of Americans,” Biden said in a statement.

In choosing Rice to oversee the White House council, advisers said Biden was signaling the importance of domestic policy in his early agenda. Though the council was created with the intention of being on par with the White House national security council, it traditionally has had a lower public profile, including for its directors.

Rice is expected to be more of a force, inside and outside the White House, and her appointment creates a new power center in the West Wing. She has discussed replicating some elements of the national security council in her new role, including a principals committee of cabinet secretaries and others that could bring more structure to domestic policymaking, but also pull more power into the West Wing.

She is expected to play an active role in the Biden administration’s response to the coronavirus pandemic. Healthcare, immigration and tackling racial inequality are also expected to be among the top issues for the domestic policy shop next year.

The 56-year-old Rice will be among the most prominent Black women in Biden’s administration.

Although Biden has insisted his administration will not simply be a retread of Obama’s presidency, he is bringing back numerous familiar faces. His team has defended the moves as a nod toward experience and the need to hit the ground running in tackling the pressing issues facing the nation across multiple fronts.

Shirley Anne Warshaw, a professor at Gettysburg College who has studied the presidency and cabinets, said following Obama as he builds out his team gives Biden an advantage.

“This is a much better bench than Obama had because these people have the experience of serving in the Obama administration,” Warshaw said. “In that way, Joe Biden is the luckiest man in the world.”

McDonough, the VA nominee, is an experienced manager who was chief of staff throughout Obama’s second term. McDonough was previously Obama’s deputy national security adviser, including during the raid in 2011 that killed the al-Qaida leader, Osama bin Laden, and was a longtime congressional staffer.

McDonough was credited with helping Obama try to bridge divides on Capitol Hill, including around one of his most substantial second-term legislative achievements: the Veterans Choice Act. The legislation, for which Donald Trump tries to take credit, gave former service members more options to seek care and the VA secretary more authority to fire underperforming staffers.

The bill came about following exposés during the Obama administration into mismanagement at some VA hospitals and mounting complaints by advocacy groups. As chief of staff, McDonough was also deeply involved in an overhaul of VA leadership after the scandals, which led to the exit of the department’s secretary.

“We are surprised by this pick. No way to deny that,” said Joe Chenelly, national executive director of Amvets, or American Veterans. “We were expecting a veteran, maybe a post-9/11 veteran. Maybe a woman veteran. Or maybe a veteran who knows the VA exceptionally well. We are looking forward to hearing from President-Elect Biden on his thinking behind this nomination.”

Associated Press contributed to this report