Report: White House Chief of Staff Quietly Calling Cabinet Members with Request Aimed at Helping Biden's Campaign
President Joe Biden’s White House Chief of Staff Jeff Zients is quietly reaching out to cabinet members with a request.
Zients is asking that members of Biden’s cabinet who are planning to resign depart office quickly, according to an Axios report.
Zients’ request is being made with political considerations in mind.
The White House is eager to confirm successors to departing cabinet members before the 2024 election heats up, according to Axios.
The Biden administration wants to avoid contentious confirmation battles in the Senate during an election year, Axios reported, and “be able to move quickly if any Cabinet replacements are needed.”
.@HansNichols scoops that WH Chief of Staff Jeff Zients has been quietly calling Biden’s Cabinet to deliver a subtle message: If you plan to leave, please do so in the next few months.
Trying to lock in the cabinet through ‘24 https://t.co/wTSYZagJ5M— Alex Thompson (@AlexThomp) June 7, 2023
Democrats control the Senate with a paper-thin majority of 48 Democratic senators and three independents who caucus with the Democrats. The party has a tie-breaking vote in Vice President Kamala Harris, but those are still insufficient numbers for the White House to be confident that confirmations of cabinet members will go smoothly.
The prospect of a partisan clash over a cabinet post clashes with Biden’s strategy of distancing himself from partisan politics amid the 2024 campaign, according to Axios.
It’s unclear if any Biden cabinet members are eyeing the possibility of resignation.
Zients encouraged potential departures to leave the administration in the next few months.
Officials such as Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg and Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas are among Biden’s most criticized cabinet members, with Republican members of Congress having called for Mayorkas’ impeachment.
In contrast to the churning cabinet of former President Donald Trump’s administration, Biden has overseen minimal turnover in his cabinet as president.
Only one of the 15 department heads Biden originally nominated after his inauguration has departed the administration since his inauguration.
Secretary of Labor Marty Walsh resigned his position in in February, according to the New York Post.
Walsh’s nominated successor, Julie Su, faces a confirmation process in the Senate far from guaranteed to end in success, according to Axios.
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