Now that President Joe Biden has introduced the second major plank of his economic agenda, the White House is announcing another roster of Cabinet officials who will take lead roles in selling it to the public.
Biden has assigned Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra, Education Secretary Miguel Cardona, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack and Cecilia Rouse, chair of the Council of Economic Advisers, to serve as his "Families Cabinet," a White House official said.
Their job description: lead the administration's negotiations on Capitol Hill while also communicating with state and local officials and union allies.
"Each of these Cabinet members bring expertise and focus on the components in the Families Plan, and in the coming weeks, they'll be at the forefront of making that case that these sort of transformational investments are vital in strengthening the middle class and ensuring the economic well-being of families across America," the official said.
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Each official, the White House says, has already begun to work and will soon ramp it up.
Yellen met with the Retail Industry Leaders Association on Wednesday to discuss the $1.8 trillion plan. Rouse and Cardona will brief the chairs of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, the Congressional Black Caucus and the Congressional Asian and Pacific American Caucus on Thursday.
Even as this sub-Cabinet takes on the additional assignment, it's Biden himself leading the public sales job.
On Thursday, he'll go to the key battleground state of Georgia to launch the "Getting America Back on Track" tour, which press secretary Jen Psaki said this week is designed to "take the case directly to the American people about the vital need for action on the Jobs Plan and the Families Plan."
Biden's "Jobs Cabinet" — Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm, Housing and Urban Development Secretary Marcia Fudge, Labor Secretary Marty Walsh and Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo — has been doing similar work since he unveiled the more than $2 trillion American Jobs Plan.
