Questionable records for some Biden nominees
IJ political columnist Dick Spotswood briefly quoted from what I wrote for RootsAction. org, where I’m the national director, in his recent commentary (“Trump has relegated Republican Party to pariah status,” Jan. 10). Unfortunately, Spotswood chose not to share with readers any of what immediately followed:
• Tom Vilsack, also known as “Mr. Monsanto,” has (again) been nominated to head the
U.S. Department of Agriculture. During his first tenure as secretary of agriculture, Vilsack racked up a grim record of protecting the interests of “Big Ag” over the needs of independent farmers, workers, consumers and the environment. To top it all off, he’s currently serving as president and CEO for a major U.S. dairy lobby.
• Neera Tanden is widely known as one of the most antiprogressive voices of the neoliberal establishment. She has been tapped to head the Office of Management and Budget, the department tasked with formulating the Biden administration’s spending plans — an especially critical endeavor amid the current economic crisis. It is concerning that Tanden has, in the past, expressed support for cuts to Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid and has been a staunch opponent of “Medicare for All” and a $15 federal minimum wage.
• Antony Blinken has been nominated to serve as secretary of state. He supported the war in Iraq, supported interventions in Libya and Syria, and co-founded WestExec Advisors — a firm that provides “strategic consulting” for undisclosed clients in the tech and defense sectors, greasing the revolving door between industry and the federal government (i.e. the military-industrial complex).
• Avril Haines has been nominated to serve as director of national intelligence. She was the former deputy national security adviser and deputy CIA director under former President Barack Obama. Haines helped author the presidential policy guidance that established the legal framework and normalization of the Obama administration’s use of drone strikes and failed to discipline CIA officers who hacked Senate Intelligence Committee networks while the committee was compiling a report on CIA torture.
— Norman Solomon, Inverness