The New Upcoming Secretary of the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD)

According to HousingWire, president-elect Joe Biden has now recently chosen his reportedly new secretary for the Department of Housing and Urban Development, Rep. Marcia Fudge. She was a representative of Ohio's 11th congressional district and will leave that post once Biden has taken over his office on January 2021. 

She will be under the Biden administration's cabinet committee next year. It is noted that during the 2020 Elections that Democrats have lost a huge majority ground in the House, but Fudge's post can be filled with a Democrat if needed. The reason why this can be done is that Fudge represented the majority-minority district of Ohio. 

Once she has been officially been recognized as the new HUD secretary, she will be the first Black woman to be in that position for more than 40 years.

The first Black woman that held this position is named Patrica R. Harris, under the Carter administration. Biden kept his word about having a diverse cabinet in history by choosing Fudge in this case. 

It has been noted that Fudge has been an advocate of both fair labor practices and civil & human rights throughout her career in politics.

However, before this, she was being touted to be the next Agricultural Secretary since she was in the House Committee on Agriculture. But instead, Biden has chosen a different person for that role, which is... 

Former Iowa Governor Tom Vilsack Would Be the New Agriculture Secretary

According to the Washington Post, the new Agriculture Secretary would be the former Iowa governor Tom Vilsack, which was chosen by Biden for this post. Vilsack would not be new to this post, as this was his former position during the Obama administration, giving him experience in handling the said post. Both the positions of Vilsack and Fudge were confirmed by a number of people with knowledge of the said selection. 

However, not all people in the public like Vilsack's return to the position, as many are voicing out their opposition against him, due to him being insensitive to a Black employee during his former tenure.

Additionally, the backers of Fudge wants her to be in that position instead of Vilsack, due to his past records within that committee. Fudge's backers highly believe that she is the one that would be able to turn the agency into one that solely focuses on agriculture and the farmers & their wellbeings.

Even though this move by Biden was to introduce more diversity in both the administration and the cabinet, many are criticizing this as a planned, choreographed move by him in order to blunt his critics.

This is especially true against the criticisms he has received from multiple Black organizations before this.

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