Gina Raimondo: What to know about Biden’s commerce secretary choose

President Biden chose Gina Raimondo, the governor of Rhode Island, as his commerce secretary, tapping the previous enterprise capitalist to oversee the office as the nation’s business enterprise community struggles to get better from the coronavirus pandemic.

If verified by the Senate — her confirmation hearing is scheduled for Jan. 26 — Raimondo would preside more than the Commerce Department and its sprawling businesses, which enjoy a job in every little thing from engineering policy to local weather modify to conducting the census and overseeing the collection of financial knowledge.

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A average Democrat who acquired her begin in the fiscal marketplace, Raimondo is at present serving her next term as governor. Given that currently being elected in 2015, Raimondo has reduce taxes and rolled back regulations to help organizations, frequently putting her at odds with unions.

Raimondo, the state’s former treasurer, also overhauled Rhode Island’s having difficulties pension system, which was on observe to operate out of property. Below her plan, retirees would get rid of their annual cost-of-dwelling will increase and present-day workforce would be moved to a hybrid pension method incorporating 401(k)s.

The condition handed the ground-breaking pension reforms in 2011.

In advance of she ran for office, Raimondo was a founding employee and senior vice president at the financial investment company Village Ventures, which was backed by Bain Cash. She obtained a law diploma from Yale College and attained a doctorate from Oxford College, where she was a Rhodes scholar.

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Raimondo faced an ethics complaint from an adversarial condition GOP that took problem with a $1 billion agreement extension with gaming enterprise IGT without the need of a competitive bidding course of action, WPRI reported in 2019. In 2020, the state’s ethics commission dismissed the grievance, which alleged a conflict of desire due to the fact IGT’s lobbyist Donald Sweitzer was also doing the job for the Democratic Governors Affiliation, which Raimondo led, WPRI reported.

“We have major reservations about Governor Raimondo becoming nominated to Commerce Secretary,” Rhode Island GOP Chairwoman Sue Cienki explained to Fox News in a statement.

FOX Business’ Evie Fordham contributed to this report