WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden announced Friday that Jeff Zients, who served as the coronavirus response coordinator and Biden transition chairman, will take over as White House chief of staff.

Zients will take over from Ron Klein, a longtime member of Biden’s political orbit, who led the White House to the top — passing consistent legislation like the infrastructure bill and the Democrats’ climate, health care and tax bill, and dozens of judges confirmed. in the first two years, as well as its failures, such as the difficult withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan. The transition is the first major personnel reshuffle in the administration, in which there has been minimal turnover at the highest levels and in the cabinet.

“I’m confident that Jeff will continue Ron’s example of smart and sustainable leadership as we continue to work hard every day for the people we were sent here to serve,” Biden said in a statement, adding that Zients, like Klein, “understands what it means to lead a team” and “focused on achieving the goal”.

The 56-year-old Zients will be tasked with leading White House operations at a key Biden two-year mark as the Democratic administration shifts from ambitious legislative initiatives to implementing those policies and fending off Republican efforts to discount gains.

While several senior advisers including Anita Dunn, Stephen Ricchetti, Mike Donilon, Jennifer O’Malley Dillon and Bruce Reid are expected to oversee political operations, Zients is expected to help oversee the implementation of the CHIPS Act, several infrastructure projects and the most significant expansion of veterans’ health care benefits in decades.

“People are tired, they’ve done historic things,” said Denis McDonough, Secretary of Veterans Affairs. And the president, in his words, “should know that one person is responsible for the effective implementation of large priorities.”

It was McDonough, who was President Barack Obama’s chief of staff during his second term, who first hired Zients to work on fixing the crash-prone website for Obama’s health program.

“He’s not the kind of guy who gets into debates,” McDonough said of Zients. “He is not in this to score political points. He is in it for quality of life and results.”

In both the Obama and Biden administrations, Zients has helped resolve major operational issues, such as the nationwide coronavirus vaccination campaign, or fix bureaucratic clutter, such as the crashes and crashes that marked the launch of HealthCare.gov. autumn 2013.

Obama also brought in Zients in 2009 to close the gap on the Cash for Clunkers program, which offered discounts to drivers who traded old cars for fuel-efficient cars. Zients later took on a similar task to make it easier to register for an updated version of the GI Bill.

Zients was Biden’s vice chairman of the transition after he won in November 2020, and served as director of the National Economic Council under the Obama administration and acting director of the Office of Management and Budget.

“I’ve asked Jeff Zients to handle some of our toughest challenges and his leadership has certainly been invaluable,” Obama tweeted Friday. “He led my economic team as we advanced our most progressive economic policies, and I know he will serve the President of the United States and the American people well in this new role.”

As COVID-19 coordinator, Zients led the effort to deliver more than 220 million vaccinations in the first 100 days of Biden’s rule, while strengthening and distributing the nation’s stocks of therapeutics and tests. Zienz gradually switched the administration from so-called “wartime” efforts that fought COVID-19 at its most severe levels to a strategy that would allow people to return to normal with a virus that is likely to be endemic.

CHOICE WELCOME

Although Zients left the administration in April 2022, he has quietly returned in recent months to ensure that the remaining two years of Biden’s term are adequately staffed, a prelude to him taking on a much broader managerial role.

The appointment of Zients continues to be White House Chief of Staff as one of the most powerful positions in the US government ever held by a white male.

Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer, DN.Y., said he couldn’t think of a better person “to help smoothly implement the reform bill passed by Congress.”

“Jeff is the epitome of what an outstanding chief of staff should be. He is organized, focused and visionary, the right person to lead the Biden administration and ensure that the American people see and experience the benefits of these new laws,” Schumer said.

In the private sector, Zients held a senior management position at the consulting firm Advisory Board Co. from Washington and maintains close relationships with the business community. His net worth is between $90 million and $400 million, according to a financial disclosure he filed when he entered the White House in 2021.

“I have a lot of respect for him,” Senator Mitt Romney of Utah, who spoke regularly with the Zients during his tenure as COVID-19 response coordinator, said this week. “He is a very smart guy. I hope I can communicate with him.”

However, these business ties have already drawn criticism of Zient’s election from some on the left, who have criticized the new chief of staff for his experience in the private sector. Progressives expect a transition from Klein, who regularly leaned towards this ideological wing of the party and maintained close ties to liberal lawmakers.

Zients was also an original investor in Call Your Mom, a local bagel shop, although he sold his shares prior to entering administration in 2021. He also served as chairman of the Children’s National Hospital in Washington DC.

‘RIGHT TIME’

When he leaves the White House, Klein will take with him decades of institutional knowledge about Washington politics, the inner workings of Capitol Hill, and the Biden family—in a statement, the president said he had known Klein since he was a third. law student.

Klein, in his resignation letter to Biden, said it was “the right time” to make the transition after the “undeniably historic” first two years of the presidency.

“The middle of your first term – two successful years behind you and key decisions for the next two years – is the right time for this team to take on new leadership,” he wrote. “I have served longer than eight of the last nine chiefs of staff, and have given this job all my strength; now it’s time for someone else to take over.”

The first two years of the presidency “wouldn’t have been anywhere near as successful without Ron Klein by the president’s side,” Schumer said, noting that he spoke to the outgoing chief of staff several times a day, knowing his advice and questions would be relayed directly. to Biden.

Klein vowed to do everything possible to help Biden get re-elected if he “decides to run” in 2024. Ricchetti, Donilon and Reid will remain in Biden’s inner circle, while Klein, a longtime Democratic Party official, will continue to advise and participate outside.

Biden said he “intends” to run for another term, and his staff began preparations ahead of an expected official announcement in the spring, but said the president had not yet made a formal decision.

Biden said the White House will hold a formal event for Klein next week and “officially welcome Jeff back to the White House in this role.”

Information for this article was provided by Seung Min Kim and Zeke Miller of The Associated Press, and Katie Rogers of The New York Times.

FILE – White House COVID-19 Response Coordinator Jeff Zients speaks at a press briefing at the White House April 13, 2021 in Washington. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky, File) FILE – Jeff Zients, who has been selected as Covid-19 response coordinator and presidential adviser, speaks during an event at the Queen Theater in Wilmington, Delaware, Tuesday, December. October 8, 2020 to announce President-elect Joe Biden’s medical team. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh, File) FILE – White House COVID-19 Response Coordinator Jeff Zients speaks at a press briefing at the White House in Washington, April 13, 2021. Former White House COVID-19 response coordinator Zients is among those on the shortlist of candidates for White House chief of staff Ron Klein, who is preparing to leave office in the coming weeks, according to a person familiar with Klein’s plans. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky, File) FILE – Secretary of State Anthony Blinken (foreground) and Jeff Zients, White House Coronavirus Response Coordinator (right), listen as President Joe Biden talks about his administration’s global COVID vaccination efforts -19 ahead of the G-7 summit, Thursday 10 June 2021, St Ives, England. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky, File) FILE – White House COVID-19 response coordinator Jeff Zients removes his face mask as he prepares to speak at a White House press briefing April 13, 2021 in Washington. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky, file)

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