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Bush Completes His Cabinet
US President-elect George W. Bush named three more new cabinet members Tuesday, completing his 14-member Cabinet.
Bush nominated Norman Y. Mineta, a Democrat who is serving as President Bill Clinton's secretary of commerce, to be his secretary of transportation, Spencer Abraham to be secretary of energy, and Linda Chavez to be secretary of labor.
"I can't think of a better way to start the new year than to round out a Cabinet, one of the strongest that I think any president has ever been able to assemble," Bush said at a news conference in Austin, Texas.
All the cabinet members nominated by Bush have to be approved by the Senate. Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott, a Republican, said Tuesday that he expected confirmation hearings by various committees could begin next week.
Mineta, 69, is a Japanese-American who represented the Silicon Valley area surrounding San Jose, California, for 21 years until stepping down to become a lobbyist in 1995. He became Clinton's commerce secretary last year.
Mineta said he was honored to serve under Bush, although he insisted he remained a committed Democrat.
"The challenge before all of us, as Americans, regardless of party affiliation, is to find those areas where can build bipartisan consensus on the policies and the programs that are needed to move this nation forward," Mineta said.
Abraham, 48, was the only Arab-American in the Senate until he was defeated by Democrat Debbie Stabenow in November after a single six-year term.
Linda Chavez, 53, is a conservative immigration specialist who served with the Civil Rights Commission in the administration of President Ronald Reagan.
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