President-elect Joe Biden has chosen Rhode Island Gov. Gina Raimondo as his nominee to head the Commerce Department, according to multiple reports.
Raimondo, 49, is a relative centrist within the party, known for fighting unions in her state. She backed Michael Bloomberg before endorsing Biden in the Democratic primary.
The new commerce secretary, if approved by the Senate, will be instrumental in Biden’s plan to rebuild the nation’s infrastructure system.
The Commerce Department will reportedly team up with the Transportation Department and Small Business Administration as lead negotiators with Congress to move an infrastructure bill to fruition.
The former vice president made upgrading the nation’s roads, bridges, and energy grid a top priority when running for the high office and touted infrastructure as a way to create jobs.
“We need millions of construction, skilled trades, and engineering workers to build a new American infrastructure and clean energy economy. These jobs will create pathways for young people and for older workers shifting to new professions, and for people from all backgrounds and all communities,” his campaign website stated.
Many of these jobs will be union, according to the campaign website.
“Biden will create millions of good, union jobs building and upgrading a cleaner, safer, stronger infrastructure,” the website states.
The Commerce Department works with public leaders and private companies to identify and fund infrastructure projects.
Under the Trump administration, the Commerce Department imposed numerous new tariffs on steel, aluminum, and a variety of goods from China. Based on 2019 import levels, U.S. and retaliatory tariffs affected over $460 billion of imports and exports and increased annual consumer costs by roughly $57 billion annually, according to the American Action Forum, a center-right economic think tank.
The department under Trump also cut short the once-in-a-decade census because of the pandemic. Trump also fought to exclude illegal aliens from the count.
