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President-elect Biden's 1st Cabinet picks expected Tuesday amid roadblocks

President-elect Biden's 1st Cabinet picks expected Tuesday amid roadblocks
and there is no excuse not to share the data and let us begin to plan. President elect Joe Biden is escalating his language, calling the Trump administration stonewalling on the transition. Ah, threat to the country and the Kobe 19 vaccine rollout is gonna put us behind the eight ball by a matter of a month or more. And that's lives. How many would be lost? As a consequence of that? I can't tell you there is evidence Biden is right. The 9 11 commission did find grave impacts to national security the last time a presidential transition was delayed by weeks in the definitive 9 11 report, a nationwide best seller. When it came out in 2004, the bipartisan commission found the 36 day delay until George W. Bush was declared the winner. Quote hampered the new administration in identifying, recruiting, clearing and obtaining Senate confirmation of key appointees. It found future transitions should minimize quote as much as possible the disruption of national security policy making during the change of administrations by accelerating the process for national security appointments. I just think it's totally responsible on coronavirus, Senator Rand Paul made an eye opening claim about the forthcoming Kobe 19 vaccine. On Tuesday, the Republican from Kentucky wrote Quote Naturally, Acquired Cove in 19 immunity is MAWR effective than either the Pfizer or Moderna vaccines pending FDA approval. But our partners, in fact check dot org's, say that is misleading and too soon to know they're finding quote. It's not known how immunity from the two sources compares, and the entire point of a vaccine is to offer immunity without the risk of getting sick. Virologist Angela Rasmussen told fact check or quote. It's just really ridiculous to try to use the way efficacy is calculated in clinical trials for vaccines and apply that to epidemiologic data across the entire population. Those are the fax in Washington. I'm chief national investigative correspondent Mark Albert.
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President-elect Biden's 1st Cabinet picks expected Tuesday amid roadblocks
Video above: Biden transition hits roadblocksPresident-elect Joe Biden's first Cabinet picks are coming Tuesday and planning is underway for a pandemic-modified inauguration in January as his team moves forward despite roadblocks from the Trump administration.Ron Klain, Biden’s incoming chief of staff, offered no details Sunday about which department heads Biden would first announce. The Associated Press has reported that Biden could name his nominee for secretary of state or treasury secretary this coming week.Biden has pledged to build the most diverse government in modern history, and he and his team often speak about their desire for his administration to reflect America. He is being watched to see whether he will make history by nominating the first woman to lead the Pentagon, the Treasury Department or the Department of Veterans Affairs, or the first African American at the top of the Defense Department, the Interior Department or the Treasury Department.Biden said last week he had settled on his pick for treasury secretary.Klain said the Trump administration's refusal to clear the way for Biden's team to have access to key information about agencies and federal dollars for the transition is taking its toll on planning, including the Cabinet selection process. Trump's General Services Administration has yet to acknowledge that Biden won the election — a determination that would remove those roadblocks.“We’re not in a position to get background checks on Cabinet nominees. And so there are definite impacts. Those impacts escalate every day,” Klain told ABC's “This Week.”Even some Republicans have broken with Trump in recent days and called on him to accept the results of the election.“I, frankly, do think it's time to — well, it was past time to start a transition, to at least cooperate with the transition,'' said Sen. Kevin Cramer, R-N.D., on NBC's ”Meet the Press." He said the GSA's designation should happen Monday “because it didn't happen last Monday morning," to give the incoming administration “all the time they need.”Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., said there was a “very good chance” Biden would be president and that Biden and his team should have access to relevant information for the transition. After a federal judge's ruling against the Trump campaign in an election challenge in Pennsylvania on Saturday, GOP Sen. Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania said the president had “exhausted all plausible legal options” and Toomey congratulated Biden on his win.And on Sunday, former Republican Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey, a longtime Trump supporter, said on ABC that it was time for the president to stop contesting the outcome. Christie said Trump's legal team was a “national embarrassment.”Looking ahead to the Jan. 20 inauguration, Klain said it is “going to definitely have to be changed” due to the coronavirus pandemic, and that the Biden team is consulting with Democratic leadership in the House and Senate over their plans.“They’re going to try to have an inauguration that honors the importance and the symbolic meaning of the moment, but also does not result in the spread of the disease. That’s our goal,” Klain said.Inaugurations typically include a traditional parade down Pennsylvania Avenue, remarks by the president and vice president from the Capitol, a lunch with lawmakers in the Capitol rotunda and numerous balls across Washington. All are events attended by hundreds and sometimes hundreds of thousands of people who travel to the nation's capital.It’s unclear how public health concerns will affect those traditions.During the campaign, Biden drew a contrast with Trump on the coronavirus by paring down his own events in response to the pandemic. Biden held smaller gatherings where people were asked to wear masks and adhere to social distancing recommendations from public health experts. Since he won the presidency, Biden has emphasized the importance of mask-wearing.

Video above: Biden transition hits roadblocks

President-elect Joe Biden's first Cabinet picks are coming Tuesday and planning is underway for a pandemic-modified inauguration in January as his team moves forward despite roadblocks from the Trump administration.

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Ron Klain, Biden’s incoming chief of staff, offered no details Sunday about which department heads Biden would first announce. The Associated Press has reported that Biden could name his nominee for secretary of state or treasury secretary this coming week.

Biden has pledged to build the most diverse government in modern history, and he and his team often speak about their desire for his administration to reflect America. He is being watched to see whether he will make history by nominating the first woman to lead the Pentagon, the Treasury Department or the Department of Veterans Affairs, or the first African American at the top of the Defense Department, the Interior Department or the Treasury Department.

Biden said last week he had settled on his pick for treasury secretary.

Klain said the Trump administration's refusal to clear the way for Biden's team to have access to key information about agencies and federal dollars for the transition is taking its toll on planning, including the Cabinet selection process. Trump's General Services Administration has yet to acknowledge that Biden won the election — a determination that would remove those roadblocks.

“We’re not in a position to get background checks on Cabinet nominees. And so there are definite impacts. Those impacts escalate every day,” Klain told ABC's “This Week.”

Even some Republicans have broken with Trump in recent days and called on him to accept the results of the election.

“I, frankly, do think it's time to — well, it was past time to start a transition, to at least cooperate with the transition,'' said Sen. Kevin Cramer, R-N.D., on NBC's ”Meet the Press." He said the GSA's designation should happen Monday “because it didn't happen last Monday morning," to give the incoming administration “all the time they need.”

Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., said there was a “very good chance” Biden would be president and that Biden and his team should have access to relevant information for the transition. After a federal judge's ruling against the Trump campaign in an election challenge in Pennsylvania on Saturday, GOP Sen. Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania said the president had “exhausted all plausible legal options” and Toomey congratulated Biden on his win.

And on Sunday, former Republican Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey, a longtime Trump supporter, said on ABC that it was time for the president to stop contesting the outcome. Christie said Trump's legal team was a “national embarrassment.”

Looking ahead to the Jan. 20 inauguration, Klain said it is “going to definitely have to be changed” due to the coronavirus pandemic, and that the Biden team is consulting with Democratic leadership in the House and Senate over their plans.

“They’re going to try to have an inauguration that honors the importance and the symbolic meaning of the moment, but also does not result in the spread of the disease. That’s our goal,” Klain said.

Inaugurations typically include a traditional parade down Pennsylvania Avenue, remarks by the president and vice president from the Capitol, a lunch with lawmakers in the Capitol rotunda and numerous balls across Washington. All are events attended by hundreds and sometimes hundreds of thousands of people who travel to the nation's capital.

It’s unclear how public health concerns will affect those traditions.

During the campaign, Biden drew a contrast with Trump on the coronavirus by paring down his own events in response to the pandemic. Biden held smaller gatherings where people were asked to wear masks and adhere to social distancing recommendations from public health experts. Since he won the presidency, Biden has emphasized the importance of mask-wearing.