Vice President-elect Kamala Harris will have a broad, sweeping role in President-elect Joe Biden’s administration, according to the pair.
“If the future is determined in any way based on what has been happening, we are full partners in this process. He wants me to be the first and the last in the room,” Harris told CNN when asked about her incoming role.
Unlike former Vice President Al Gore, who, among other issues, handled climate change under former President Bill Clinton, Biden said he wasn’t going to delegate his lieutenant a portfolio. The two-term vice president and 36-year Delaware senator explained their relationship would resemble his own with former President Barack Obama.
“There are so many things that are going to land on this president’s desk,” he said. “We have significant problems. Whatever the most urgent need is that I’m not able to attend to, I have confidence in turning to her.”
Biden and Harris, who have unveiled the first of their top administration picks, encouraged liberal critics or Democrats hoping for more diversity in the higher echelons of their government to wait. Biden said he would be meeting with representatives from the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People next week, for example, after complaints there weren’t enough black officials in the earlier rounds of personnel announcements.
As Biden’s Jan. 20 inauguration date approaches, President Trump has yet to concede. He is challenging the Nov. 3 election in court, claiming voter and electoral fraud. While many GOP lawmakers have still not publicly acknowledged Biden’s win, Biden said that “more than several sitting Republican senators” have called him privately to congratulate him.
The wide-ranging conversation covered COVID-19 economic relief negotiations. For Biden, the $900 billion bipartisan proposal “should be passed,” though “it’s not enough.”
The discussion also touched on softer topics, including how Harris’s partner, Douglas Emhoff, has adopted the title “first gentleman.” Biden detailed how he sprained his ankle this weekend as well.
“The little pup dropped the ball in front of me,” he said. “I grabbed the ball like this, and he ran, and I was joking running after him to grab his tail. And what happened was that he slid on a throw rug, and I tripped on the rug he slid on.”
