President-elect Joe Biden revealed Friday that he wanted to nominate socialist Sen. Bernie Sanders as his labor secretary, but the pair agreed they could not risk losing control of the Senate.
“I did give serious consideration to nominating my friend Bernie Sanders. I’m confident that he could have done a fantastic job,” Biden said in Wilmington, Del., as he unveiled his economic team.
“I can think of no more passionate, devoted ally to working people in this country,” he went on.
The top US Department of Labor job ended up going to Boston Mayor Marty Walsh, a respected union leader.
Biden said he and Sanders decided they could not risk losing their recent victory in the US Senate after Democrats triumphed in two Georgia runoff races.
With control of the upper chamber of Congress now 50-50, Vice President Kamala Harris will serve as the tie-breaking vote in her role as Senate president, giving Biden the ability to deliver on his sweeping legislative agenda.
“After Tuesday’s results in Georgia, giving Democratic control of United States Senate in a tie vote, Bernie and I agreed — as a matter of fact, Bernie said — we can’t put control the ‘Senate at risk,'” the incoming commander-in-chief explained.
The independent lawmaker from Vermont who ran two hugely popular presidential bids will still have a seat at the table, Biden said.
“He agreed we couldn’t take that chance. We also discussed how we’d work together, traveling the country together, helping Marty and meeting with working men and women who feel forgotten and left behind in this economy,” he went on.
“We agreed that we’ll work closely on our shared agenda of increasing worker power to protect the dignity of work for all workers,” he said.
“I want to thank Bernie for his continued friendship and leadership and I look forward to us working together.”
Progressives lashed out at Biden for not installing enough progressives in his cabinet, instead favoring Obama-era officials.
Democrats will now be in control of the White House and both chambers of Congress for the first time since Barack Obama’s win in 2008.