President Barack Obama rounded out his second-term Cabinet nominations on Thursday by nominating Penny Pritzker as his new Commerce secretary and Michael Froman to be the next U.S. trade representative.
May 2, 2013 — The following is an excerpt for a story originally published by Politico on May 2. The Commerce Department oversees NOAA, among other agencies.
Speaking in the Rose Garden of the White House, Obama called Pritzker “one of our country’s most distinguished business leaders” and “an extraordinary civic leader.”
Obama made the announcement before heading off on a three-day trip to Mexico and Costa Rica.
If confirmed Pritzker, would fill a post that’s been vacant since John Bryson resigned amid health problems last June.
Pritzker, a longtime Chicago-based Obama fundraiser, is a businesswoman worth an estimated $1.85 billion and sits on the board of her family’s Hyatt Hotels empire. That experience, according to a White House official, makes her “one of the most accomplished and highly respected women in business today.”
But the pick also draws attention to the failure of a bank partially owned by the Pritzker family and to Hyatt’s turbulent relationship with labor unions, though labor groups held off criticizing Pritzker on Thursday morning.
Pritzker was previously considered for the Commerce job in late 2008, but was not ultimately nominated. There were concerns then that she was too controversial a pick in the midst of the financial crisis, especially as other Cabinet nominees were facing heightened scrutiny.
But after a lengthy vetting process this time around the White House decided to go with Pritzker, and an official said Thursday there is confidence that she will have an easy path to confirmation in the Senate.
Read the full story at POLITICO