Biden Issues Orders on Loans, Immigration
BU IN DC
The Biden Administration recently announced the appointments of the following BU alumni:
Wendy Sherman (CAS ’71) has been nominated as deputy secretary of the U.S. Department of State. She previously served as the lead negotiator of the Iran nuclear deal for the Obama Administration.
Kei Koizumi (UNI ’91) is chief of staff to the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP). Koizumi worked at OSTP for the entire eight years of the Obama Administration.
Gina Lee (CGS, ’08, COM ’10) is director of scheduling for First Lady Jill Biden. Lee previously worked on the Biden campaign and for the Biden Foundation.
Justin Maxson (GRS ’96) has been named Deputy Under Secretary for Rural Development at the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). Maxson led an economic justice foundation prior to joining USDA.
BIDEN ISSUES ORDERS ON LOANS, IMMIGRATION
Joseph R. Biden and Kamala Harris were sworn in as President and Vice President of the United States on Wednesday. Within hours of taking office, Biden issued a series of executive actions to jump-start the Administration’s policy agenda:
- Student loans: Extending the current suspension on federal student loan repayment until September. The pause was scheduled to expire at the end of January, after being enacted in the CARES Act and extended by the Trump Administration.
- Racial equity: Revoking the previous Administration’s executive order on race and sex stereotyping, which prohibited federal agencies from supporting certain types of diversity training. The Biden order also mandates federal agencies conduct an equity assessment, instructs federal officials to gather data to measure and advance equity, and cancels the authority of the Trump Administration’s 1776 Commission on American history.
- Immigration: Reinvigorating the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, which provides legal status for undocumented youth, as well as rescinding the previous Administration’s travel ban on immigrants from certain Muslim-majority nations.
- Climate change: Conducting a review of recently enacted environmental regulations, as well as rejoining the Paris Climate Agreement.
BIDEN ANNOUNCES KEY SCIENCE PERSONNEL
Last Friday, President Biden announced nominees for key science posts in his administration:
- Dr. Eric Lander will serve as both Presidential Science Advisor and Director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP). Dr. Lander is founder of the Broad Institute. For the first time, the Presidential Science Advisor will also be a member of the President’s Cabinet, reflecting the important role the Administration expects science to play.
- Dr. Alondra Nelson will be deputy director of OSTP. Dr. Nelson is a social scientist at Princeton University who is expected to focus on how science can better serve all Americans.
- Dr. Frances Arnold and Dr. Maria Zuber will serve as as co-chairs of the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST). Dr. Arnold is a chemist and Nobel Laureate at the California Institute of Technology. Dr. Zuber is the vice president for research at the Massachusetts Institute for Technology.
In a letter to his science team, President Biden tasked his science leaders with envisioning the ideal role of public health, identifying new solutions for climate change, developing the nation’s readiness for the “industries of the future,” ensuring that science benefits all Americans, and planning for the long-term health of America’s science enterprise.
BUZZ BITS…
- Last week, President Biden nominated Rohit Chopra to serve as the next director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB). Mr. Chopra is currently a commissioner at the Federal Trade Commission, and previously helped regulate the private student loan industry at CFPB in the Obama Administration.
- On Thursday, President Biden appointed new personnel at the U.S. Education Department. Student loan expert Rich Williams will be the chief of staff for the Office of Postsecondary Education, and gender and sexuality legal scholar Suzanne Goldberg will serve as the acting assistant secretary for the Office of Civil Rights.
- Some members of the Massachusetts Congressional delegation have received new committee assignments. Freshman Representative Jake Auchincloss (D-Brookline) will serve on the banking and transportation committees, while sophomore Congresswoman Lori Trahan (D-Lowell) has secured a spot on the influential House Energy and Commerce Committee.