The Commerce Division has wide-ranging authority over points as broad as know-how exports and local weather change. On Tuesday, President Biden’s n
The Commerce Division has wide-ranging authority over points as broad as know-how exports and local weather change. On Tuesday, President Biden’s nominee to run the company, Gina M. Raimondo, will seem earlier than the Senate commerce committee for a affirmation listening to. Ms. Raimondo, the present governor of Rhode Island, is a average Democrat and former enterprise capitalist.
Right here are some things to look at for because the listening to begins at 10 a.m.
Countering China’s rising technological attain
Senators of each events are prone to query Ms. Raimondo on how she plans to make use of the Commerce Division’s powers to counter China’s rising mastery of cutting-edge and delicate applied sciences, like superior telecommunications and synthetic intelligence.
The Trump administration made heavy use of the division’s authorities to crack down on Chinese language know-how corporations, turning typically to the so-called entity checklist, which permits america to dam firms from promoting American merchandise and know-how to sure international corporations with out first acquiring a license. Dozens of firms have been added to the Commerce Division’s checklist, together with telecom giants like Huawei and ZTE.
The Commerce Division was additionally given accountability for outlining President Donald J. Trump’s U.S. ban on the Chinese language-owned social media apps TikTok and WeChat — actions that had been subsequently halted by a courtroom order. Mr. Biden has stated he sees TikTok’s entry to American information as a “matter of real concern,” but it surely’s unclear how the brand new administration will handle these points.
However the Commerce Division has different capabilities that some tech consultants say had been underused within the Trump administration, just like the position it performs in setting world know-how requirements that non-public corporations should operated below.
Bounce-starting the financial restoration
As commerce secretary, Ms. Raimondo would wield authorities that would assist struggling companies and advance the Biden administration’s targets of build up home trade and revitalizing American analysis and growth. That features financial growth applications and manufacturing partnerships that the Commerce Division presents to small and midsize enterprises, in addition to its core mission of selling American exports.
Delving into Ms. Raimondo’s previous
Like a few of Mr. Biden’s different nominees, Ms. Raimondo has confronted a little bit of backlash from progressive Democrats, who’ve criticized her shut ties with enterprise capital and massive tech corporations. Earlier than operating for political workplace, Ms. Raimondo was a founding worker on the funding agency Village Ventures, which was backed by Bain Capital, and co-founded her personal enterprise capital agency, Level Judith Capital.
Some progressives have additionally condemned sure actions she took as governor of Rhode Island, together with clashing with unions throughout an overhaul of the state’s pension plans and lengthening some legal responsibility protections to nursing properties and well being care services in the course of the pandemic. However Democrats, who will help Ms. Raimondo’s speedy affirmation, are unlikely to press too exhausting on these points, if in any respect.
Ms. Raimondo’s monetary disclosure kinds, launched this month, additionally seem uncontroversial, exhibiting an annual wage of $150,245 from the state of Rhode Island and $2.9 million to $7.5 million in money, funding accounts and different belongings, primarily mutual funds.