Ben Cardin, of Maryland, to be a Representative of the United States of America to the Seventy-ninth Session of the General Assembly of the United Nations.

Lanhee J. Chen, of California, to be a Director of the Amtrak Board of Directors for a term of five years, vice Jeffrey R. Moreland, term expired.

Elizabeth C. Coombe, of New York, to be United States District Judge for the Northern District of New York, vice Glenn T. Suddaby, retired.

Sarah Morgan Davenport, of New Mexico, to be United States District Judge for the District of New Mexico, vice William P. Johnson, retiring.

Sharad Harshad Desai, of Arizona, to be United States District Judge for the District of Arizona, vice G. Murray Snow, retiring.

Tanya Leigh Flores, of California, to be a Representative of the United States of America to the Seventy-ninth Session of the General Assembly of the United Nations.

Adam Gamoran, of New York, to be Director of the Institute of Education Science, Department of Education for a term of six years, vice Mark Schneider, term expired.

Gordon Hartogensis, of Connecticut, to be a Governor of the United States Postal Service for a term expiring December 8, 2031, vice Roman Martinez IV, term expiring.

Dan Sullivan, of Alaska, to be a Representative of the United States of America to the Seventy-ninth Session of the General Assembly of the United Nations.

Michael Trager, of the District of Columbia, to be a Representative of the United States of America to the Seventy-ninth Session of the General Assembly of the United Nations.

WASHINGTON – Today, President Joe Biden announced his intent to nominate the following individuals to serve as key leaders in his administration:

Additionally, President Biden announced his intent to nominate the following individuals to serve as Republican members of boards and commissions that are required, by statute, to include bipartisan membership.

Ben Cardin, to be Representative of the United States to the 79th Session of the General Assembly of the United Nations

Born and raised in Baltimore, Senator Ben Cardin has dedicated his life to public service. He is an outspoken champion for human rights and has been a national leader on foreign policy, tax policy and the environment while representing the people of Maryland in the U.S. Senate, and before that in the House of Representatives. He is a former Speaker of the Maryland House of Delegates. Currently serving as Chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Senator Cardin has worked across party lines to further U.S. national security and to ensure that democracy, anti-corruption, transparency, good governance and respect for civil and human rights are integrated into American actions at home and abroad.

Senator Cardin is the lead author of the Global Magnitsky Human Rights and Accountability Act, which gives the United States the power to deny travel and banking privileges to individuals worldwide who commit gross violations of human rights against rights defenders and dissidents, and leaders who commit acts of significant corruption. He also is the author of the recently reauthorized Elie Wiesel Genocide and Atrocities Prevention Act, which in 2018 codified into law the prevention of atrocities as a national security interest.

Senator Cardin also serves on the Environment and Public Works, Finance and Small Business and Entrepreneurship Committees. He is a strident defender of the Chesapeake Bay and the environment. He has led multiple, bipartisan delegations to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, dating back to the Paris Accords. He has taken the lead on reviving the Equal Rights Amendment, believes health care is a right of all Americans, and fights for resources to fix our crumbling water infrastructure.

Dan Sullivan, to be Representative of the United States to the 79th Session of the General Assembly of the United Nations

Dan Sullivan was sworn in as Alaska's eighth United States Senator on January 6, 2015. Senator Sullivan serves on four Senate committees vital to Alaska: Armed Services, Environment and Public Works Committee, Veterans' Affairs, and Commerce, Science and Transportation.

Senator Sullivan has been able to pass numerous bills and amendments related to rebuilding and modernizing our country's military, expanding responsible resource development, reining in federal overreach, spurring economic development, expanding benefits for veterans, and helping those who are most vulnerable, including survivors of sexual assault and domestic violence.

Prior to his election to the Senate, Sullivan served as Alaska's Attorney General and Commissioner of the Department of Natural Resources—where he focused on growing Alaska's economy and pushing back against federal government overreach. Senator Sullivan served in the George W. Bush administration as the U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Economic, Energy, and Business under Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, and as a Director in the International Economics Directorate of the National Security Council staff at the White House.

He served for 30 years in the United States Marine Corps, retiring on February 1, 2024 as a Colonel in the Marine Corps Reserve. He also serves as Chairman of the International Republican Institute [IRI].

Senator Sullivan holds a B.A. in Economics from Harvard University and a joint Law and Master of Science degree in Foreign Service from Georgetown University. He and his wife, Julie Fate Sullivan, were married in 1994 in Julie's hometown of Fairbanks, Alaska. They have three daughters.

Tanya Leigh Flores, to be Representative of the United States to the 79th Session of the General Assembly of the United Nations

Tanya Leigh Flores is a communications and operations strategist who has worked with Fortune 50 corporations, federal, state, and local governments, and non-profit organizations. She has previously served in various roles in support of the Biden-Harris Administration, including spousal program operations for the Department of State for the 2022 Summit of Americas in Los Angeles as well as an advisor to the Department of Homeland Security on leadership planning for the 2023 North America Leaders' Summit in Mexico City and the 2023 Munich Security Conference.

Flores was Chief Operating Officer for the 59th Presidential Inaugural Committee, where she managed a diverse portfolio of divisions, including financial and event operations, security, credentialing, human resources, and COVID-19 safety. During the 2020 election cycle, she served as Director of Scheduling and Advance for the Biden-Harris campaign. In 2021, Flores was appointed by Governor Gavin Newsom as Deputy Director of the California Film Commission where she oversaw operations, outreach, and legislative efforts in support of filming in the State of California. Flores served in a senior role on the LA28 Bid Committee, helping to obtain the award of the Olympic and Paralympic Games, which are to be hosted by the city of Los Angeles in 2028. She has traveled as head of advance delegations for the Bidens since 2011.

Flores holds MBA degrees from both Columbia Business School and UC Berkeley's Haas School of Business and a B.A. from the University of Maryland. A native Texan, she lives in Los Angeles with her partner, Michael Dundas.

Michael Trager, to be Representative of the United States to the 79th Session of the General Assembly of the United Nations

Michael Trager has spent time in both government and the private sector. In 2022, Trager was appointed by President Biden to the U.S. Department of State's Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board, where he continues to serve as Vice Chair and on the Executive Committee. The Board supervises the global Fulbright Program, which is led by the U.S. government in partnership with more than 160 countries to promote worldwide mutual understanding and provide for a more secure and peaceful world. The Program is a primary facilitator of international educational exchange, cultural diplomacy, and soft power.

Previously, Trager had been a Washington lawyer for 35 years and a U.S. government attorney prior to entering private practice. He was the founding Co-Chair of the Securities Enforcement and Litigation Practice at the international law firm of Arnold & Porter, and he held that position for approximately two decades as well as other firmwide leadership roles while a senior partner. In private practice, he represented clients in governmental and regulatory investigations and matters, and he was recognized and ranked nationally as a leading lawyer in his field.

At the beginning of his career, Trager served in the Division of Enforcement of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission in the Washington Headquarters. He earned a B.A. from Wesleyan University and a J.D. from Boston University School of Law. While at Wesleyan, he studied abroad at the London School of Economics and Political Science. He resides in Washington, D.C. and is married to Mariella Trager. They have two adult children.

Adam Gamoran, to be Director of the Institute of Education Sciences, Department of Education

Adam Gamoran is President of the William T. Grant Foundation, a charitable organization that supports research to improve the lives of young people. Previously, he held the John D. MacArthur Chair in Sociology and Educational Policy Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where he spent three decades engaged in research on educational inequality and school reform. He has lectured at universities across the United States and worldwide, and his writing has appeared in books, journals, magazines, blog posts, and other media. In 2021-2022, he led a committee of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine that produced a report on The Future of Education Research at IES. For his research contributions, he has been honored by the Association for Public Policy Analysis and Management, the American Educational Research Association, and the Sociology of Education Section of the American Sociological Association. He is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and a member and former vice president of the National Academy of Education, and he was twice appointed by President Barack Obama to serve on the National Board for Education Sciences.

Lanhee J. Chen, to be a Member [Republican] of the Amtrak Board of Directors

Lanhee J. Chen is the David and Diane Steffy Fellow in American Public Policy Studies at the Hoover Institution and Director of Domestic Policy Studies and Lecturer in the Public Policy Program at Stanford University. Chen has spent his career in business, government, as well as academia, and was a candidate in 2022 for California State Controller, the state's chief fiscal officer. Chen is a member of the Board of Directors and Chair of the Governance Committee at El Camino Health in Northern California, and previously served as Board Chair. He is also a Partner at the Brunswick Group, a global critical issues advisory firm, where he is co-lead of the U.S. Public Affairs, Policy and Regulatory practice. Chen is also an adviser to or serves on the boards of several private companies and nonprofit organizations. Previously, he was an operating partner at NewRoad Capital Partners, a private equity firm.

From 2014 to 2018, Chen was appointed by President Barack Obama and confirmed by the U.S. Senate to serve as a member of the Social Security Advisory Board. He also served in the George W. Bush Administration as a senior official at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Chen has been a policy adviser to four U.S. presidential campaigns, including as Policy Director to Senator Mitt Romney during his 2012 bid for the presidency.

Chen earned his PhD and A.M. in Political Science from Harvard University; his J.D. cum laude from Harvard Law School; and his A.B. magna cum laude in Government from Harvard College.

Gordon Hartogensis, to be a Governor [Republican] of the United States Postal Service Board of Governors

Gordon Hartogensis is an entrepreneur, investor, and government official who recently completed a five-year term as the Director of the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation [PBGC] from 2019-2024.

Hartogensis left an early career on Wall Street in 1993 to build a startup software company called Petrolsoft Corporation – a supply chain and logistics company that was later acquired by Aspen Technology. He served in a leadership role at Aspen until June 2002.

Shortly after his departure from Aspen Technology, he founded Auric Technology, a customer relationship management software company. In 2011, Auric was sold to Telnorm. Following his departure from Auric, he was an angel investor and advisor to several technology startups in cybersecurity, immunotherapy, streaming video, fintech, and artificial intelligence.

Hartogensis grew up in Maryland where he attended Montgomery County public schools. He holds a B.S. in Computer Science from Stanford University and an M.S. in Technology Management from Columbia University.

Hartogensis and his wife Grace reside in Connecticut.

President Biden and Vice President Harris announce historic final rule that will ensure mental health care coverage for 175 million Americans is on par with their physical health care coverage

President Biden and Vice President Harris believe that health care is a right, not a privilege, and that mental health care is health care – period. But for millions of Americans, care for mental health and substance use conditions is still hard to find and hard to afford. Today, the Biden-Harris Administration is taking a step toward changing that, by placing new requirements on health plans that will improve and strengthen access to mental health care for 175 million Americans with private health insurance.

Statement from the President: "Mental health care is health care. But for far too many Americans, critical care and treatments are out of reach. Today, my Administration is taking action to address our nation's mental health crisis by ensuring mental health coverage will be covered at the same level as other health care for Americans. There is no reason that breaking your arm should be treated differently than having a mental health condition. The steps my Administration is taking today will dramatically expand access to mental health care in America."

Statement from the Vice President: "President Biden and I are committed to ensuring that every person in our country has the mental health care they need to thrive. That is why we made the largest investment in youth mental health in history and are transforming how mental health is understood, perceived, and treated for all Americans. Today, we are building on this lifesaving and lifechanging work by announcing the finalization of a historic rule that will expand mental health care across our nation so more of our loved ones, neighbors, coworkers, and classmates receive the care they deserve. As someone who has spent my entire career fighting to improve the health and well-being of all Americans, I will never stop working to ensure that health care is a right – not just a privilege for those who can afford it."

For over 15 years, robust access to mental health care has been a bipartisan priority. Thanks to the 2008 enactment of the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act [MHPAEA], which was further strengthened in 2020 on a bipartisan basis, health plans that cover mental health and substance use care benefits must do so at the same level as physical health care benefits. But despite this landmark law, too many Americans still struggle to find and afford the care they need. In 2020, less than half of all adults with mental illness received treatment. For children, the numbers are even worse: nearly 70 percent of our kids who seek care for mental health or substance use cannot get it. That's in part because insurers too often make it difficult to access mental health treatment, causing millions of consumers to have high out-of-pocket costs because they go out-of-network, or defer care altogether. One study shows that insured people are nearly four times as likely go out-of-network and pay higher fees for mental health care than for physical health care. And the problem is getting worse: in recent years, the gap between usage of out-of-network care for mental health and substance use disorder benefits versus physical health benefits increased 85 percent.

Today's final rule strengthens consumer protections by reinforcing MHPAEA's fundamental purpose that all Americans should have the same access to mental health and substance use benefits as they do physical health benefits. And it will help lower families' health care costs by making it easier to access mental health and substance use care and getting rid of barriers that keep people from getting the care they need, when they need it, for a price they can afford. Specifically, the final rule will:

Thanks to the Biden-Harris Administration, these new requirements will help more people get the mental health and substance use care they need while also making sure that mental health and substance use care professionals are paid fairly, likely incentivizing more people to join the mental health workforce. In addition to today's final rule, the Department of Health and Human Services is also releasing new tools for states to ensure compliance with MHPAEA's critical protections for the millions of Medicaid beneficiaries enrolled in private Medicaid health plans.

Instead of working across the aisle to do their most basic job and deliver for the American people by keeping the government open and providing emergency funding for disasters, House Republicans are yet again wasting time with extreme policies and a potentially harmful long-term continuing resolution [CR).

The House Republicans' long-term CR abdicates their responsibility to the American people. It would erode our national defense, impede our efforts to outcompete China, fail our veterans and seniors, abandon communities struck by disasters, and undermine programs that support small businesses while making wealthy tax cheats pay what they owe. Finally, it would move us closer to devastating across-the-board cuts to education and Head Start programs; our veterans, the military, and border agents; food assistance for mothers, babies, and low-income families; food and air safety; and more.

House Republicans' long-term CR fails to provide necessary resources for our defense, our veterans, and our seniors. Both the Administration and bipartisan appropriators in the Senate have put forward FY25 proposals that address pressing needs for the Department of Defense (DoD], Veterans Affairs [VA), Social Security Administration (SSA], and other federal agencies that would have insufficient funds if kept at their current FY24 levels. For example:

House Republicans' long-term CR would abandon communities impacted by disasters. A six-month CR would mean that communities waiting on much-needed disaster assistance would need to keep waiting, months after the President has requested supplemental funding to help them. It would hurt small businesses and families trying to recover from recent disasters.

For example:

House Republicans' long-term CR would undermine programs that support small businesses and make wealthy tax cheats pay what they owe. House Republicans' CR would make it harder for the IRS to continue its efforts using Inflation Reduction Act funding to ensure that the wealthy pay the taxes they owe. It would also hurt small businesses by continuing cuts to the State Small Business Credit Initiative that would prevent states across the country from receiving funds that provide capital and technical assistance to small businesses and entrepreneurs nationwide.

House Republicans' long-term CR puts us closer to across-the-board cuts to programs Americans count on. A six-month CR would last until the end of March—only 30 days before the sequester deadline from the Fiscal Responsibility Act that would trigger across-the-board cuts if full-year bills are not passed. That short window next year would create a much higher risk that those cuts go into effect, resulting in devastating cuts to education and Head Start programs; our veterans, the military, and border agents; food assistance for mothers, babies, and low-income families; food and air safety; and more.

Penzeys Spices
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

Q Madam Vice President, what do you think of the Cheneys' endorsement, ma'am? Liz Cheney and Dick Cheney have endorsed you. What do you think about that?

THE VICE PRESIDENT: I'm — I'm — actually, I'm honored to have their endorsement. And I think that what — they both, as leaders who are well-respected, are making an important statement that it's okay and — if not important to put country above party. And I'm honored to have their support, and I think it's an important statement right now.

A lot of what I think is happening — and I was just talking with some folks here in Pittsburgh about it — is that people are exhausted about the division and — and the attempts to kind of divide us as Americans.

And them stepping up to make this public statement, I think, is courageous, but also, for people like the folks I was just talking with, it really reenforces for them that we love our country, and we have more in common than what separates us. So —

Q Are you — are you ready to debate Donald Trump?

AIDE: All right. Thank you, press.

[Cross-talk]

Q Are you ready to face Donald Trump this week?

THE VICE PRESIDENT: Yes, I am. Yes.

Q Best part of debate prep for you? What's your favorite part?

THE VICE PRESIDENT: Being at this spice store. I finally got out of the debate prep to look at these spices. Best part of debate prep so far. [Laughs]

Q But your main message to Trump in the debate. What's the one thing you want to really get — get across to him?

THE VICE PRESIDENT: Well, there is a lot. But look, it's time to turn the page on the divisiveness. It's time to bring our country together to chart a new way forward.

END