Ballotpedia's Daily Transition Tracker - December 3, 2020
December 3, 2020
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Former National Economic Council Director Jeff Zients and former U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy are the top contenders to lead the Biden administration’s pandemic response.   Welcome to Ballotpedia's Transition TrackerDecember 3, 2020Former Vice President Joe Biden (D) is the projected winner of the 2020 presidential election. The Electoral College will meet on December 14, 2020, to vote for the next president of the United States. In 2016, there were 1,714 government positions subject to presidential appointment: 1,242 positions required Senate confirmation and 472 did not. Every weekday, Ballotpedia is tracking potential Cabinet nominees, appointments, and news related to the Biden presidential transition. 
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Transition in Context: Where does the Cabinet come from?The formation of the Cabinet is rooted in Article II, Section 2, of the Constitution, which states that the president “may require the opinion, in writing, of the principal officer in each of the executive departments, upon any subject relating to the duties of their respective offices.” The Cabinet includes the vice president and the leaders of 15 executive departments: Agriculture, Commerce, Defense, Education, Energy, Health and Human Services, Homeland Security, Housing and Urban Development, Interior, Justice, Labor, State, Transportation, Treasury, and Veterans Affairs. Several other positions have become Cabinet-rank over the years, although not all administrations include the same set of offices. The Trump administration, for example, currently identifies the following Cabinet-rank positions:
The Obama administration included all of the above positions in its Cabinet, except for director of the CIA and director of national intelligence. It also identified the chair of the Council of Economic Advisors and the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations as Cabinet-rank. What We're Reading
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