Know a Nominee: Gina Raimondo to be Secretary of Commerce

UPDATE 3/2/21

• The Senate cast a bipartisan vote of 84-15 on Tuesday to confirm Gina Raimondo as Secretary of Commerce.

UPDATE 3/1/21

• The Senate voted 84-15 on Monday to limit further debate on the nomination of Gina Raimondo to be Secretary of Commerce.

The Senate is expected to vote in the near future on the nomination of Gina Raimondo to be Secretary of Commerce, starting with a procedural vote on Monday. Here’s what you need to know about the nominee.

Who is Gina Raimondo?

• Raimondo, 49, is the governor of Rhode Island and has served in that role since 2015, winning her initial election to the office in 2014 and re-election in 2018. Before her election as governor, Raimondo was the state’s general treasurer for four years.
• She earned her undergraduate degree with honors from Harvard College and earned a law degree from Yale Law School. Raimondo later attended New College, Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar, where she earned a master degree and doctorate of philosophy.
• After law school, Raimondo clerked for Judge Kimba Wood of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. She later worked at a venture capital firm before co-founding a new venture capital firm.

What’s the outlook for her nomination?

• During her confirmation hearing, Raimondo was asked about whether she would remove Chinese telecommunications company Huawei from a Commerce Dept. list that restricts their ability to buy technology and intellectual property from American firms without receiving a federal license. 
• Initially, Raimondo gave a non-committal answer, but she later clarified in writing that she sees “no reason” to believe that Huawei should be removed from the list. Raimondo also said she would use tools to sanction products made with forced labor in Xinjiang, China, where U.S. officials have said the Chinese Communist Party is committing genocide.
• The Senate Commerce Committee advanced Raimondo’s nomination on a bipartisan 21-3 vote.

What does it mean for the Dept. of Commerce?

• The Dept. of Commerce promotes job creation and economic growth by regulating trade, generating data, and setting standards to foster innovation.
• Among the agencies within the Dept. of Commerce are the Census, the National Weather Service, and National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration Fisheries.
• The agency has bureaus in all 50 states, every U.S. territory, and over 86 countries. It had more than 46,000 employees as of January 2018.

— Eric Revell

(Photo Credit: Raimondo: White House / Public Domain | Commerce Dept. Seal: Wikimedia / Public Domain)