Posts tagged as “Donald Rumsfeld”

United States President-elect, George W. Bush, is close to finalising his choice of Cabinet nominees for his new administration which will take office on January 20. With only a couple of major positions yet to be announced, it has become apparent that the 43rd President has chosen a conservative cast of colleagues for the next four years.

President-elect George W Bush and Vice-President-elect Dick Cheney

All Cabinet nominees have to be approved by the Senate, in a process that will begin in the coming week. The relevant Senate committees will conduct public hearings at which the nominees will be interrogated. A full vote of the Senate follows a recommendation from a committee.

At this stage, those most likely to face a grilling and possible rejection in the confirmation process are:

• nominee for Attorney-General, Senator John Ashcroft, who lost his Missouri Senate seat last month to a dead man, Mel Carnahan. In the past Ashcroft has sought to outlaw abortion, even for victims of rape or incest. He has spearheaded opposition to judicial appointments of liberals and blacks.
• nominee for Interior Secretary, Gale Norton, the former Colorado Attorney-General, who has a long history of favouring limited regulation of land use.

These two candidates represent the most right-wing of the incoming president’s choices.