FILLING THE CABINET…. With Barack Obama preparing to head out of town for a Christmas vacation this weekend, it looks like the transition team is putting the finishing touches on the remaining cabinet vacancies. Believe it or not, we’re just about done with the entire list.
We talked earlier about Rep. Hilda Solis of California becoming the next Secretary Labor, but there have been quite a few announcements, and a few related rumors, over the last 24 hours.
* Mary Schapiro will be the chairwoman of the Securities and Exchange Commission.
* Rep. Ray LaHood will be the next Transportation Secretary (and the second Republican in the cabinet).
* Former Dallas mayor Ron Kirk is likely to be the next U.S. Trade Representative, which is a cabinet-level position.
* Retired Navy Adm. Dennis Blair appears poised to become the next Director of National Intelligence.
* Gary Gensler will head the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, while Daniel Tarullo will fill the open seat on the Federal Reserve board in Washington.
* Physicist John Holdren, an international expert on energy and climate, will be Obama’s science adviser.
That fills every position in the entire cabinet except the CIA director.
I don’t have anything especially interesting to say about this; I just thought I’d update the record.
