Ajit Karn
WASHINGTON — Jeffrey D. Zients, who was the coronavirus response coordinator and a chairman of Mr. Biden’s transition, will take over as White House chief of staff, President Biden said on Friday.
A few days before the official announcement, it was reported that Mr. Zients had been chosen to replace Ron Klain, a longtime Biden adviser and skilled political operative who had worked for the president for the first two years of his term.In a statement, Mr. Biden said, “It is important to fill Ron’s shoes with someone who knows what it means to lead a team and is just as focused on getting things done.”Mr. Biden added, “I’ve seen Jeff Zients take on some of the toughest problems in government.”
Next week, the White House will have a formal event for Mr. Klain and “officially welcome Jeff back to the White House in this role,” the president said.
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When Mr. Klain leaves the White House, he will bring with him decades of institutional knowledge about politics in Washington, how Capitol Hill works, and the Biden family. In his statement, the president said that he had known Mr. Klain since he was in his third year of law school.
Mr. Zients is an entrepreneur who made a lot of money by starting companies that help with health care and education. He has a different set of skills: His friends say he has a good eye for finding talented people and is good at coordinating big projects. For example, he was in charge of the biggest vaccine campaign in U.S. history.
Allies say the president is likely to look to Mr. Zients to keep pushing the White House staff to deliver after two years of hard work and nonstop crises like a pandemic that is still going on and a land war in Europe. This is because the White House is getting a lot of attacks from Republicans and is likely to run for president again in 2024.
Jeff Zients Is Named White House Chief of Staff https://t.co/stfP3dGPAF
— Mark S. Getzfred (@marknyt) January 27, 2023
Several senior advisers, like Anita Dunn, Steven J. Ricchetti, Mike Donilon, Jennifer O’Malley Dillon, and Bruce Reed, will be in charge of political operations, but Mr. Zients will be in charge of making sure the CHIPS Act, several infrastructure projects, and the biggest increase in veterans’ health care benefits in decades are put into place.
The secretary of veterans affairs, Denis McDonough, said, “People are tired. They’ve done historic things, and they’re worn out.” He also said that the president “needs to know that one person is responsible for making sure that big priorities are done well.”
Mr. McDonough, who was President Barack Obama’s chief of staff during his second term, was the one who first asked Mr. Zients to help fix the website for Mr. Obama’s health care programme, which was often broken.
Mr. McDonough said of Mr. Zients, “He’s not in this for the debate.” “He’s not doing this to win points in politics. He wants to improve people’s lives and get things done.”
