Washington Two different factions of his own party are putting pressure on the newly elected US President Joe Biden to choose the upcoming defense minister. One section says that an African-American should be elected to this post, while another faction wants a woman to be elected for the first time to the post of Defense Minister. Meanwhile, some progressive groups are opposing her because of her old record of leading female contender Michelle Florney.
At least seven progressive groups, in a letter to Biden, have urged Florany not to be elected to the post. Yehni Hakim, chairman of the Yemeni Alliance Committee, said, “Floreny’s continued support for military intervention has contributed to the devastating crisis worldwide, including Yemen.” In addition to Flourney, Lloyd Austin, the army general, and J Johnson, who was the head of the Interior Ministry during the second term of former President Barack Obama, are also contenders for the post.
About 100 members of the Democratic Party in the US House of Representatives belong to the ‘Progressive Caucus’, so their support and trust for Biden is very important. James Cliburn, a prominent supporter of blacks in Congress, has appealed to Biden to place a greater number of black women and men in the cabinet. So far no woman or black person has taken over as the defense minister.
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