It's Official: Solis, Kirk, LaHood Join Cabinet

By Harry Kimball, Newser Staff

Posted Dec 19, 2008 2:55 PM CST

(Newser) – Barack Obama announced his final Cabinet choices today, making official what insiders have hinted at for a week, the Washington Post reports. Hilda Solis will be the nominee for labor secretary, Ron Kirk for trade representative, and Republican Ray LaHood for transportation. Solis appears to be the lightning rod, as union officials praised the appointment and foes said she would “toe the line for union bosses.”

Obama said today that he had completed his economic team “at an earlier point than any president in history,” Politico notes. He will soon depart for his pre-inaugural Hawaiian vacation. Obama also nominated Karen Gordon Mills for the top spot at the Small Business Administration.

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Barack Obama with, from left, U.S. Trade Representative-designate Ron Kirk, Secretary of Labor-designate Hilda Solis, Secretary of Transportation-designate Ray LaHood and SBA-designate Karen Mills. (AP Photo)

President-elect Barack Obama greets his designate Transportation Secretary Rep. Ray LaHood R-Ill. Behind them is Karen Mills Obama's designate as Small Business Administration chief. (AP Photo)

President-elect Barack Obama introduces his designates at a press conference today in Chicago. (AP Photo)

Former Dallas Mayor Ron Kirk, designated by President-elect Barack Obama as U.S. Trade Representative, arrives with Rep. Hilda Solis, D-Calif., Obama's Labor Secretary-designate. (AP Photo)

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Solis's co-sponsorship of the misnamed Employee Free Choice Act signals that Obama's Department of Labor will toe the line for union bosses. - J. Justin Wilson, Center for Union Facts

Hilda Solis has never backed down from the good fight to make the American Dream available to all. - Andy Stern, SEIU president

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