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US Senate Confirms Mineta as New Commerce Minister
The US Senate confirmed Norman Mineta on Thursday evening by unanimous consent to become Secretary of Commerce.
Mineta pledged that as Secretary, he will focus his energies on keeping people in business, investing in the nation's future, protecting US coastal and marine resources, continuing to mainstream the new economy, working toward digital inclusion for all Americans, and ensuring an accessible and accountable government.
"We must continue to invest in our workers, their opportunities, and their communities. I look forward to helping continue this longest economic expansion in American history," he said.
Mineta will be the first Asian Pacific American to serve in a presidential cabinet. A native of San Jose, California, Mineta most recently served as Vice President of Special Business Initiatives at Lockheed Martin Corporation. Mineta is a former member of the Untied States House of Representatives and has a long record of public service. He was first elected to Congress in 1974 to represent Silicon Valley.
"He brings an in-depth understanding of American business and a strong sense of the needs of our high-tech economy," President Clinton said of Mineta.
President Clinton appointed Mineta on June 29 to replace former Commerce Minister William Daley, who left the post on July 15 to join Vice President Al Gore's presidential campaign as campaign chairman.
Mineta and his family were among the 120,000 Americans of Japanese ancestry forced into internment camps by the US government during the Second World War. They were uprooted from their home in San Jose and brought to the Heart Mountain Relocation Center, near Code, Wyoming.
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