Biden turns to business of transition after winning U.S. presidency
President-elect will launch 'agency review teams' this week
U.S. president-elect Joe Biden has vowed to heal a deeply divided nation while he makes plans for a new administration, laying the groundwork this week for thousands of new staffers and appointees to be in place after January's inauguration.
In his first speech to the nation as its newly elected president Saturday, Biden declared it was time to "let this grim era of demonization in America begin to end," reaching out to the millions of people who voted against him to say, "Let's give each other a chance."
His calls for reconciliation at the victory celebration in Wilmington, Del., came even as President Donald Trump continued to argue that the election had been stolen from him, an indication that the divisive politics that have gripped the U.S. over the past four years are far from over.
It also suggested that even as Biden seeks to build out a government during his transition to the presidency, the president has little interest in helping him do so.
Biden named a former surgeon general, Dr. Vivek Murthy, and a former Food and Drug Administration commissioner, David Kessler, as co-chairs of a coronavirus working group set to get started, with other members expected to be announced Monday.
"For all those of you who voted for President Trump, I understand the disappointment," Biden said during a drive-in event Saturday night. "It's time to put away the harsh rhetoric, lower the temperature, see each other again."
Biden heads into his first full day as president-elect on Sunday with key staffing decisions to make as the coronavirus pandemic rages. The always-frenzied 10-week transition period before Inauguration Day on Jan. 20 already has been shortened by the extra time it took to determine the winner of Tuesday's election.
Launching 'agency review teams'
Biden will launch "agency review teams" this week. It's the group of transition staffers that have access to key agencies in the current administration to smooth the transfer of power.
The teams will collect and review information such as budgetary and staffing decisions, pending regulations and other work in progress from current staff at the federal departments.
The teams are meant to lay much of the groundwork so that the thousands of new staffers and appointees who will take over in January will have a road map and guidelines for how to continue the federal government's work without pause, and how to shift the departments toward Biden's priorities.
WATCH | Biden's 1st address as U.S. president-elect:
"People want the country to move forward," said Kate Bedingfield, Biden deputy campaign manager, in an interview on NBC's Meet the Press. They want to see Biden and Vice-President-elect Kamala Harris "have the opportunity to do the work, to get the virus under control and to get our economy back together," she said.
Biden adviser Jen Psaki pressed for the Trump-appointed head of the General Services Administration to quickly recognize Biden as the president-elect, which would free up money for the transition and clear the way for Biden's team to begin putting in place the transition process at agencies.
"America's national security and economic interests depend on the federal government signaling clearly and swiftly that the United States government will respect the will of the American people and engage in a smooth and peaceful transfer of power," Psaki said in on Twitter.
A GSA official said Sunday that step had not been taken yet.
Biden's campaign launched a transition team in May, and they've been working alongside designated staffers in Trump's administration on transition planning for months. But the agency review process begins in earnest after a new president is elected.
Trump's campaign, meanwhile, issued a statement Saturday saying the election was "far from over" and vowing to start prosecuting their case in court Monday "to ensure election laws are fully upheld and the rightful winner is seated."
Transition team
Biden's transition team has also come out with a transition-focused website — BuildBackBetter.com — and is launching transition-focused social media accounts under the username "Transition46."
The second Catholic to be elected president, Biden planned to attend church at St. Joseph on the Brandywine near his home in Wilmington on Sunday, as he does nearly every week.
His top priority in the transition is expected to be quickly naming a chief of staff. Biden suggested during the campaign that his first call after being elected would be to Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation's top infectious disease expert, but his advisers have not said whether the two have spoken yet.
Biden said Saturday that he would announce a task force of scientists and experts Monday to develop a "blueprint" to begin beating back the virus by the time he assumes the presidency. He said his plan would be "built on bedrock science" and "constructed out of compassion, empathy and concern."
Biden was on track to win the national popular vote by more than four million, a margin that could grow as ballots continue to be counted. His win makes Trump the first incumbent president to be denied a second term since Republican George H.W. Bush lost to Bill Clinton in 1992.
His running mate, Sen. Kamala Harris, used her first address as vice president-elect to showcase her history-making place as the first Black woman to become vice president, an achievement that comes as the U.S. faces a reckoning on racial justice. The California senator is also the first person of South Asian descent elected to the vice presidency and the highest-ranking woman ever to serve in government.
WATCH | Vice-president elect Kamala Harris addresses the American people:
"While I may be the first woman in this office, I will not be the last," Harris said in her speech Saturday night.
To win, Biden successfully unified different wings of the Democratic Party around their universal loathing of Trump, garnering support from progressive insurgents and establishment moderates alike.
"The party came together to defeat Donald Trump," said Brian Lemek, a longtime progressive fundraiser and executive director of Brady PAC (political action committee), which invested $6 million US on 2020 candidates supporting gun violence prevention efforts and voting rights. "His main job right now, we all think, is to heal the nation."
Biden senior adviser Ted Kaufman said the transition team will focus on the "nuts and bolts" of building the new administration in coming days. He said Biden plans to speak to legislative leaders and governors from both parties.
Many former Republican officeholders broke with Trump to endorse Biden's campaign. His selection of some of them to join the new government could appease Senate Republicans, who may have to confirm many of Biden's choices for top jobs. The Republican Party could retain control of the chamber after two special elections in Georgia on Jan. 5.
Still, too much across-the-aisle co-operation could draw the ire of progressives. Some already worry that uncooperative Senate Republicans could force Biden to scale back his ambitious campaign promises to expand access to health care and lead a post-pandemic economic recovery that relies on federal investment in green technology and jobs to help combat climate change.
"I think there will be a huge misuse of the word 'unity' to imply that we need to water down the ideas that Joe Biden just campaigned on," said Adam Green, co-founder of the Progressive Change Campaign Committee.
Biden's efforts at bipartisan reconciliation, meanwhile, could still be derailed by Trump's refusing to concede the presidential race. Biden deputy campaign manager Bedingfield told CNN late Saturday that there's been no contact between Trump's team and Biden's.
Symone Sanders, a Biden campaign spokesperson, said "Donald Trump does not get to decide the winner of elections."
Some of the president's supporters used similar language to make the opposite argument.
"The media do not get to determine who the president is. The people do," tweeted Republican Sen. Josh Hawley of Missouri. "When all lawful votes have been counted, recounts finished, and allegations of fraud addressed, we will know who the winner is."
With files from CBC News
