Biden Hires Oil and Pharma People after he Campaigned to be Tough on Those Sectors

Joe Biden speaking in public
Biden had oil and pharma people as appointees for his cabinet after making a statement to go after them during campaign.

During his campaign, Joe Biden swore to be free from the influence of oil and pharmaceutical industries. But a recent twitter post by New York Times reporter Kenneth Vogel begs to differ.

According to his tweet, four confirmed members of the White House staff so far hail from these very industries which democrats condemn.

Meet The Big Sector Appointees

The first one, Ronald Klain, worked for Biden when he was still a senator. This went on when he worked as a chief of staff to then vice president Biden. He now holds the position of executive vice president of Revolution, a venture capital firm. He has been securing government positions for the past few years but he has also previously worked as a lobbyist, and his team represented drugmaker ImClone who was questioned for their selective offering of ‘compassionate use of drugs’. Recently, he was tapped to be the White House chief of staff.

Steve Ricchetti, who, despite democrats’ disapproval, helped pass a trade agreement with China which resulted in a great loss in American manufacturing jobs, also made the list. He also used to be a lobbyist for insurance and pharmaceutical companies. Before, he has worked with the likes of Eli Lilly, Novartis, and Pfizer. And now, he was just declared as the White House Counselor.

Biden also tapped Rep. Cedric Richmond, one of the oil and gas sector’s top beneficiaries during the election period, to be the White House Office of Public Engagement’s Senior Adviser.

Jennifer O’Malley Dillon completes the list of the appointees from the pharmaceutical industry. She was the co-founder of a firm which spoke and acted on behalf of different pharmaceutical and private companies. Biden’s campaign manager is now named as the president-elect’s Deputy Chief of Staff. 

What It Means For The Oil and Pharmaceutical Industries

The big oil continues to make its presence known to the USA government. American citizens were witnesses to both Bush and Cheney, former oil executives, and their reign in the White House. During which time, the oil industry has spent $393.2 million in lobbying the federal government. Now that we have people form the oil sector again, it’s only a matter of time before we really see their interests concretize right before our eyes.

As for the big pharma, this kind of influence the sector holds is reminiscent of the many lawsuits filed against these pharmaceutical companies for the medications and devices they continuously manufacture without proper testing. Many lawsuits have been filed to make these big pharma accountable, but to no avail. The Paragard Lawsuit is just one of the many examples of lawsuits which continue to grow with backup evidences, but to which these companies take no heed.

Why It Should Not Come As A Surprise

Even though Biden claimed he will be tough on the oil and pharmaceutical industries during his campaign and despite making policies that would limit these industries’ influence according to their interests, it should not be a surprise for him to seemingly turn back on his words and put people linked to the said industries on his administration. After all, employees from those industries heavily funded his campaign. 

Aside from the oil and pharmaceutical industries, the Biden campaign also received donations from big companies like Facebook and Microsoft, as well as prestigious universities such as Harvard University and The University of California.

Today, Trump is still looking to start a lawsuit in different states over an attempt to hold onto the presidency.

 

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