🚀 go-pugleaf

WASHINGTON�President Barack Obama on Monday will name Charlotte, 
N.C., Mayor Anthony Foxx to be the next secretary of the 
Department of Transportation, an agency that has been under 
intense pressure in recent days over flight delays caused by 
budget cuts.

Mr. Foxx has been mayor since 2009 and, as an African-American, 
would help Mr. Obama fend off criticism from his own party about 
a lack of diversity in his cabinet picks. The post requires 
Senate confirmation.

A White House official said Mr. Obama would make the 
announcement Monday and praised Mr. Foxx's efforts to improve 
Charlotte's transit infrastructure as a way to expand the 
economy.

Unlike several of Mr. Obama's Cabinet picks for his second 
term�such as Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel and Secretary of 
StateJohn Kerry�Mr. Foxx hasn't been a close friend or leading 
political ally of the president. But the two got better 
acquainted when Charlotte played host to the Democratic National 
Convention last year.

Mr. Foxx will be among several people Mr. Obama is naming to top 
posts this week, rounding out a second-term cabinet. Mr. Obama 
has settled on Mike Froman, currently a White House deputy 
national security adviser, as his nominee for U.S. trade 
representative, an administration official said Friday. The 
president will also name Chicago billionaire and Democratic 
donor Penny Pritzker as commerce secretary, the official said, 
ending months of speculation about her likely nomination.

Mr. Froman has been a trusted adviser to the president on 
international economics and security issues. Ms. Pritzker was a 
major fundraiser for both of Mr. Obama's presidential races.

Mr. Foxx, if confirmed, will replace the current secretary of 
the Department of Transportation, Ray LaHood. Mr. LaHood has 
been under pressure over the furloughing of federal air-traffic 
controllers as a result of the sequester.

Lawmakers complained about flight delays and last week passed a 
bill that included funding to allow the Federal Aviation 
Administration to stop the furloughs of air-traffic controllers 
and prevent the scheduled closure of 149 control towers staffed 
by contracted employees at small airports. The FAA is part of 
the Department of Transportation.

In choosing Mr. Foxx, the president bypassed the head of the 
National Transportation Safety Board, Deborah Hersman, who was 
considered a candidate for the post. Ms. Hersman was known for 
fighting against sleepy pilots and drunken drivers and won 
bipartisan praise from lawmakers for increasing the profile of 
the independent safety board.

There are currently two African-Americans among those with 
cabinet rank in the Obama administration, Attorney General Eric 
Holder and U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice. At the White House 
Correspondents' Association dinner Saturday night, comedian 
Conan O'Brien took a jab at the diversity of the president's 
choices, saying Mr. Obama's hair was "so white, it could be a 
member of your cabinet."

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887323528404578451340
242681424.html

Obviously democrats haven't taken a good look at the tax code 
courtesy of Charles Rangel, or the Los Angeles city deficit 
courtesy of Maxine Waters.  Both black democrats of dubious 
integrity.

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