{"id":6183,"date":"2021-01-07T22:16:14","date_gmt":"2021-01-07T22:16:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.radiofree.org\/?p=147439"},"modified":"2021-01-07T22:16:14","modified_gmt":"2021-01-07T22:16:14","slug":"a-profoundly-troubling-pick-progressives-slam-biden-choice-of-gov-raimondo-for-commerce-chief","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/2021\/01\/07\/a-profoundly-troubling-pick-progressives-slam-biden-choice-of-gov-raimondo-for-commerce-chief\/","title":{"rendered":"‘A Profoundly Troubling Pick’: Progressives Slam Biden Choice of Gov. Raimondo for Commerce Chief"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Progressives expressed concern Thursday following reports<\/a> that Presdident-elect Joe Biden has chosen Rhode Island Gov. Gina Raimondo to be commerce secretary.<\/p>\n

“Raimondo, a former venture capitalist, is the wrong pick\u2014and the American public agrees,” the Revoling Door Project\u2014a group that’s urged<\/a> Biden to reject corporate-aligned Cabinet selections\u2014said in a statement<\/a>. “According to November polling, nearly 70% of respondents oppose President-elect Biden appointing Raimondo to any Cabinet position.”<\/p>\n

Raimondo, a charter school advocate<\/a> who backed<\/a> former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg during the Democratic presidential primary\u2014had previously been under consideration to be Biden’s Department of Health and Human Services chief but withdrew<\/a> her name from consideration last month amid grounded accusations<\/a> her “record on health is a total disaster.”<\/p>\n

The Daily Poster<\/em> reported<\/a> in December:<\/p>\n

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As governor, Raimondo has slammed<\/a> proposals to expand Medicare to cover everyone. Amid the pandemic in August, her administration approved<\/a> health insurance companies’ steep premium increases that were criticized<\/a> by the state’s Democratic attorney general as “unnecessary and ill-advised.” Health insurers have been raking in record profits<\/a>, with fewer people seeking care because of the pandemic.<\/p>\n

Raimondo has also pushed for Medicaid cuts that nursing home workers warned<\/a> would result in unsafe staffing levels\u2014and in April, she issued an executive order sought by healthcare industry lobbyists that shielded nursing homes from lawsuits when their business decisions injure or kill people. The order was later expanded to shield nursing homes, hospitals, and other healthcare providers.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Reasons to object to Raimondo as commerce secretary, says the Revolving Door Project, stretch even further. The group pointed on Thursday to a number of examples: <\/p>\n

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