Sunday School 12/20/20

I'm focusing on incoming Biden team members who were making the rounds this morning:  Surgeon General pick Dr. Vivek Murthy; Transportation Secretary pick Pete Buttigieg; Energy Secretary nominee Gov Jennifer Granholm, and Jen Psaki, the new White House Press Secretary.

Dr. Murthy talked with Chuck Todd on Meet the Press, and noted it could be as early as late spring, but "it's more realistic" that it might be later before the vaccines hit the general population. He said the "100 million vaccinations in 100 days" is doable. They've been working with suppliers, and with the career officials in the Trump administration, many of whom he knows from working with them in the past.

On concerns about the UK - identified coronavirus mutation, Murthy cautioned that

While it seems to be more easily transmissible, we do not have evidence yet that this is a more deadly virus to an individual who acquires it. There's no reason to believe that the vaccines that have been developed will not be effective against this virus, as well. 

Todd asked about the "ethical dilemma" of whether to vaccinate older people before essential workers, and where the Biden team stood. Transparency will be key, Murthy said, and that the drivers of who gets the vaccines when "should be fact, should be ethical considerations, should be science and expertise." Regardless of the rollout,

...we have got to make sure that we've got enough supply. We've got to make sure that we have both the logistical systems in place as well as people and materials to be able to deliver that vaccine quickly. If we put these together, then we can rapidly get people in our country to the level of herd immunity. And that is ultimately what will let us get back to living our lives...

Pete Buttigieg chatted with Jake Tapper on CNN's State of the Union. They talked a bit about him being the first millennial cabinet member, and the first openly gay Cabinet Secretary to be confirmed by the Senate, if that in fact happens. Tapper asked him if he was confident that he's got enough experience for the role. He said yes and said Americans are "ready for us to finally do something about infrastructure."

We can't keep letting infrastructure week be a Washington punchline. This is a moment when we have a chance to answer to something that I think people in Republican and Democratic and purple communities, rural and urban, understand, which is that Americans shouldn't settle for less when it comes to our -- our roads and our bridges, our highways, our trains, all of the infrastructure that really powers our economy and creates so many livelihoods. 

Mayor Pete said that a "major infrastructure bill within Biden's first year in office" is not just "possible. It's necessary." There's no reason for us to settle for less than our peers around the world, he said, thinking about not only jobs, and the economy, and climate change, but also thinking about justice.

It's disproportionately black and brown neighborhoods that were divided by highway projects plowing through them because they didn't have the -- sometimes the political capital to resist, or sometimes nothing at all coming to the most low-income or minoritized neighborhoods. We have got a chance to get that right,

And they focus not just on traveler safety, he said, "how many people are indispensable to the vaccine supply chain and just to America's economy functioning. We have got to make sure that we're looking after their safety too, especially to get through this first year, which will really be a test of this country in conquering COVID."

Tapper asked about Hunter Biden, and any investigations, whether there should be a special prosecutor, things like that. I'm going to let Jen Psaki answer that question; she's the official spokesperson and it came up in her conversation with Chris Wallace on Fox News Sunday.  So did a few other questions.

On the 'colorful language'  incoming Deputy Chief of Staff Jen O'Malley Dillon used to describe Republicans, Psaki suggested people read the full comments for context and not jump to conclusions. Her message was similar when asked about suggestions that some of the cabinet picks won't be confirmed. She said they "didn't expect that every nominee would be embraced by every corner of our political system," but they are "hopeful" that the Senate will move quickly to confirm the team. 

On whether Biden believes president Trump has engaged in an abuse of power, she said they're more interested in getting to and through the inauguration and "doing the work of the American people." Whether the current president attends the inauguration or not is "not on the top-ten list or even longer than that, of his focus or priorities at this point time." 

And, finally, the Hunter Biden questions: does Biden promise to let US attorney David Weiss (he's currently conducting the investigation) finish the job?  And second, what does Biden think about a special counsel possibly being appointed to investigate his son?

 Well, let me be crystal clear, Chris, and I appreciate you asking this question. He will not be discussing an investigation of his son with any attorney general candidates. He will not be discussing it with anyone he is considering for the role, and he will not be discussing it with the future attorney general. It will be up to the purview of a future attorney general and his administration to determine how to handle any investigation.

US attorneys are personnel decisions, she reminded him, and they've still got some cabinet secretaries to announce, including the AG. 

But we’re going to allow the process to work how it should, which is for a Justice Department to be run independently by the attorney general at the top. 

And, to end on a lighter note, Psaki allowed as how she was a little puzzled by the kerfuffle over Dr. Jill Biden's use of the title she earned.

It’s a bit perplexing to me, and I’m sure to millions of Americans, that with thousands of people dying every day of COVID, millions out of work, that anyone wake up in the morning and decide that the focus they need to have, the way they contribute to society that day is to question whether or not Dr. Jill Biden, someone who is still teaching, who has a PhD in education, should be called a doctor or not. Of course she should. 

 Gov. Granholm talked with George on This Week. He asked if she'd been briefed yet on the hack we're hearing so much about, as the Energy Department was hit. Noting that she'd been nominated a mere 16 hours ago, she said she hadn't briefed. She also said we don't fully know the extent, or for sure who was behind it, but that the Biden administration would have a robust response when the time comes. 

She sees combatting climate change as an economic opportunity, with "trillions of dollars spent globally" on it - and we can be producers of the goods that everyone else will need: solar panels, wind turbines, electric vehicles, batteries, etc. and export them around the world. We should be leading, she said, or we'll lose to other countries, including China. Biden, she said, is focused

as well on making sure that the benefits of fighting climate change, the jobs, are focused on the communities that have been hardest hit by environmental pollution, for example, or that are the poorest communities. So, both environmental equity, the equity associated with energy opportunity, and creating jobs for Americans, that is going to be the mission of the Department of Energy, in addition to the great work that they already do.

On rejoining the Paris Accord and establishing an "enforcement mechanism" to ensure net zero emissions by 2050, she said it is a realistic goal, albeit an ambitious one. It's about accountability, and about working together with the rest of the Biden team, including Deb Haaland at Interior. There's going to be a significant 'hair on fire' attitude in order to ensure we meet the goals and to be leaders around the world as well as at home. 

This was something I focused on as governor of Michigan and a lot of governors and mayors are focusing on how they can contribute to make sure that they meet the Paris Climate Accord. So, we’re going to be working at the Department of Energy with the local and sub-national, as they call it units, the states and the cities, to help give them incentives -- little carrots, little sticks. The EPA often is the place that people turn to for sticks. But the Department of Energy is going to be working with all of this -- the whole of government effort to make sure we combat climate change in a fair and equitable way, and create jobs in the process.

Finally, on what she'd say to the progressives who say that the Paris Accord standards don't go far enough fast enough, Granholm said that the Green New Deal was "an important framework" for what Biden wants to accomplish, and that it's "going to be an effort that runs through the government." She mentioned here the importance of the Transportation Department. There's been "wonderful input on the part of AOC and Bernie Sanders." Not sure that's going to placate AOC or That Guy from Vermont; we'll see how that plays out. 

See you around campus. Wear your mask. Wash your hands. Bite the bullet, and stay home for the holidays.