Skip to content

Republish This Story

* Please read before republishing *

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free under an Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives Creative Commons license as long as you follow our republishing guidelines, which require that you credit The 19th and retain our pixel. See our full guidelines for more information.

To republish, simply copy the HTML at right, which includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to The 19th. Have questions? Please email [email protected].

— The Editors

Loading...

Modal Gallery

/

Menu

  • Our Mission
  • Our Team
  • Latest Stories
  • Upcoming Events
  • Contact Us
  • Newsletter
  • Donate
  • Work With Us
  • Fellowships
    • From the Collection

      Changing Child Care

      Illustration of a woman feeding a baby a bottle
      • As climate change worsens hurricane season in Louisiana, doulas are ensuring parents can safely feed their babies

        Jessica Kutz · May 5
      • Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito argued abortion isn’t an economic issue. But is that true?

        Chabeli Carrazana · May 4
      • Pregnant people are at 'greater risk' in states hit hard by wildfire smoke, air pollution, new report shows

        Jessica Kutz · April 20
    • From the Collection

      Next-Gen GOP

      Illustration of a woman riding an elephant
      • Mayra Flores’ victory set a record for women in Congress. It also reflects the growing visibility of Republican Latinas

        Candice Norwood · June 21
      • A banner year for Republican women

        Amanda Becker · November 11
      • Republican women could double representation in the U.S. House

        Amanda Becker · November 4
    • From the Collection

      On The Rise

      Illustration of three women marching
      • Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson’s swearing in makes history during unprecedented time for the Supreme Court

        Candice Norwood · June 30
      • Biden’s new environmental justice office aims to tackle the health impacts disproportionately faced by people of color

        Jessica Kutz · June 2
      • Jessica Cisneros takes on the last anti-abortion U.S. House Democrat

        Amanda Becker · February 25
    • From the Collection

      Pandemic Within a Pandemic

      Illustration of four people marching for Black Lives Matter with coronavirus as the backdrop
      • Some LGBTQ+ people worry that the COVID-19 vaccine will affect HIV medication. It won’t.

        Orion Rummler · November 23
      • Why are more men dying from COVID? It’s a complicated story of nature vs. nurture, researchers say

        Mariel Padilla · September 22
      • Few incarcerated women were released during COVID. The ones who remain have struggled.

        Candice Norwood · August 17
    • From the Collection

      Portraits of a Pandemic

      Illustration of a woman wearing a mask and holding up the coronavirus
      • For family caregivers, COVID is a mental health crisis in the making

        Shefali Luthra · October 8
      • A new database tracks COVID-19’s effects on sex and gender

        Shefali Luthra · September 15
      • Pregnant in a pandemic: The 'perfect storm for a crisis'

        Shefali Luthra · August 25
    • From the Collection

      The 19th Explains

      People walking from many articles to one article where they can get the context they need on an issue.
      • The 19th Explains: How pregnant people can prepare for a summer of heat waves

        Jessica Kutz · June 17
      • The 19th Explains: How new Title IX guidelines on sexual misconduct may give more help to survivors

        Nadra Nittle · June 14
      • The 19th Explains: How would overturning Roe v. Wade affect IVF?

        Jennifer Gerson · May 27
    • From the Collection

      The Electability Myth

      Illustration of three women speaking at podiums
      • Mayra Flores’ victory set a record for women in Congress. It also reflects the growing visibility of Republican Latinas

        Candice Norwood · June 21
      • Stepping in after tragedy: How political wives became widow lawmakers

        Mariel Padilla · May 24
      • Do term limits help women candidates? New York could be a new testing ground

        Barbara Rodriguez · January 11
    • From the Collection

      The Impact of Aging

      A number of older people walking down a path of information.
      • 'I'm planning on working until the day I die': Older women voters are worried about the future

        Mariel Padilla · June 3
      • Climate change is forcing care workers to act as first responders

        Jessica Kutz · May 31
      • Woman alleges that an assisted living facility denied her admission because she is transgender

        Sara Luterman · November 8
    • From the Collection

      Voting Rights

      A series of hands reaching for ballots.
      • Florida’s redistricting fight continues. The head of the state League of Women Voters talks about what’s at stake.

        Barbara Rodriguez · April 19
      • Women have been sounding the alarm ahead of Texas’ first-in-the-nation primary

        Barbara Rodriguez · February 28
      • LGBTQ+ people of color are at risk from rising voter restrictions as federal protections falter in the Senate, advocates say

        Orion Rummler · January 19

    View all collections

  • Explore by Topic

    • Abortion
    • Business & Economy
    • Caregiving
    • Coronavirus
    • Education
    • Election 2020
    • Elections 2022
    • Environment & Climate
    • Health
    • Immigration
    • Inside The 19th
    • Justice
    • LGBTQ+
    • Politics
    • Race
    • Sports
    • Technology

    View All Topics

Home
  • Our Mission
  • Our Team
  • Latest Stories
  • Upcoming Events
  • Contact Us
  • Newsletter
  • Donate
  • Work With Us
  • Fellowships

We’re an independent, nonprofit newsroom reporting on gender, politics and policy. Read our story.

Support The 19th

As a nonprofit newsroom, members are critical to our sustainability. Your financial support helps make our journalism possible.

Become a Member

Donate to support our mission

The 19th thanks our sponsors. Become one.

Gina Raimondo reads a document in her office.
Gina Raimondo was Rhode Island’s first woman governor. Now she faces confirmation hearings for Commerce Secretary. (Photo by John Tlumacki/The Boston Globe via Getty Images)

Business & Economy

Gina Raimondo’s focus as commerce secretary: inequality, jobs and climate change

Commerce secretary nominee Gina Raimondo, the governor of Rhode Island, said in her Senate confirmation hearing Tuesday that she will focus on job creation with an eye on climate change and workers. 

Chabeli Carrazana

Economy Reporter

Chabeli Carrazana portrait

Published

2021-01-26 16:00
4:00
January 26, 2021
pm

Share

  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Email

Rhode Island Gov. Gina Raimondo, President Joe Biden’s nominee to lead the Department of Commerce, began her confirmation hearings before a Senate committee Tuesday. In them, she laid out her priorities for the role, including addressing inequality, investing in manufacturing and tackling climate change. 

Commerce is a wide-ranging position. Its key focus is business development and economic growth, but it also oversees trade, technology, the U.S. Census Bureau, the National Weather Service, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. 

Raimondo, a moderate Democrat who became Rhode Island’s first woman governor in 2015, has outlined an approach to the role that would leverage her background in venture capital to help create jobs, while marrying that with policies that may help address inequality, like raising the minimum wage.

The 19th thanks our sponsors. Become one.

She comes from a working-class background — her father worked in jewelry manufacturing in Rhode Island — something she said has informed her view on a made-in-America approach to economic growth. It’s in line with Biden’s proposed “Buy America” manufacturing plan to purchase more U.S.-made goods. 

“My dad always used to say there was something special about a job in manufacturing — the dignity of a job when you spend your day making things,” Raimondo said in her opening statement. Her father lost his position in the 1980s when factory jobs were shipped overseas. “I know the pain that losing a job can cause a family. And as governor, I’ve seen that pain in communities all across Rhode Island, where people have lost their jobs to offshoring or outsourcing, and more recently in the pandemic.” 

Raimondo, 49, said she views the Commerce Department as a vehicle for opportunity — for workers, and for businesses. 

A newsletter you can relate to

Storytelling that represents you, delivered to your inbox.

You have been subscribed!

Submitting…

Uh-oh! Something went wrong. Please try again later.

She started her career as senior vice president at venture capital firm Village Ventures before co-founding Rhode Island’s first venture capital firm, Point Judith Capital, in 2000. She later served as treasurer of Rhode Island before becoming governor. 

Her work reforming the state’s pension program was one of the landmarks of her career, ultimately earning her the support of labor unions that initially opposed her plan. In her remarks Tuesday, she highlighted her support of a federal minimum wage increase, a movement that has been led by labor unions and that would help the women who hold nearly two-thirds of the country’s 40 lowest-paying jobs. 

In terms of business regulation and trade, Raimondo said she also favors reviewing the steel and aluminium tariffs imposed by the Trump administration, as well as combatting “unfair trade practices from China and other nations that undercut American manufacturing.” Several senators on the Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee questioned her outlook on specifically blocking Chinese telecommunication companies like Huawei and ZTE, which have been deemed national security threats by the Federal Communications Commission. 

Raimondo did not directly commit to pursuing further action with Huawei and ZTE, saying instead that she will “use the full toolkit at my disposal, to the fullest extent possible, to protect Americans and our network from Chinese interference or any kind of backdoor influence into our network. And that’s Huawei, ZTE, or any other company.”

Closer to home, Raimondo hopes to tap into her experience leading Rhode Island to assist businesses run by minorities. As governor, she launched a small-business loan program that largely benefited women and people of color. As commerce secretary, Raimondo said, she would hope to expand on that work, noting Tuesday her commitment to involving the Minority Business Development Agency, which Commerce oversees, in addressing the disparities highlighted by the pandemic for minority-owned businesses. Women and people of color were shut out of much of the aid to businesses provided through the CARES Act because they lacked commercial banking relationships. 

With broad oversight into technology, as well, Raimondo said she also supports expanding broadband access to hard-hit communities, particularly children trying to keep track of virtual school and people trying to access telehealth or sign up for a vaccine appointment. 

Several senators challenged Raimondo on her approach to the Census, which has been mired in controversy. The pandemic made accurate data reporting more difficult, and a push from the Trump administration to include a citizenship question in the Census that could have discouraged some immigrants from participating was ultimately blocked by the Supreme Court. The fall-out led to the resignation of the bureau’s director last week. 

“We first have to take the politics out [of the Census],” Raimondo said. “And secondly, we have to listen to the experts. So I look forward to being confirmed and getting in the seat and really rolling up my sleeves and listening to the experts and relying … on their assessment and evaluation as to how accurate the data is. And if they need more time, then certainly open to that.” 

Similarly, Raimondo said she will be relying heavily on the experts at NOAA to help carve a sustainable path for using ocean resources, known as the blue economy. 

The department’s involvement in climate issues will require Raimondo to walk a careful line with business development. 

Sen. Ted Cruz, the Republican from Texas, pressed Raimondo on that point, asking her what she would say to the construction workers involved in the Keystone Pipeline XL project “whose jobs have been destroyed by the stroke of a pen.” Biden signed an executive order last week that blocked the completion of the controversial pipeline, which climate activists have opposed for its potential for harmful leaks and expansion of the use of fossil fuels. 

“I would say, ‘We’re gonna get you to work.’ I would say that, ‘Climate change is a threat to all of us. And that we will make sure that you have jobs, that you have the skills you need to have a job,’” Raimondo said. “And by the way, as we meet the needs of climate change — there will be many more jobs created, good paying jobs, union jobs, and should I be the Commerce secretary, I will fight every single day for every American to have a decent paying job and a chance to compete.”

Senators will vote in the committee as to whether they recommend Raimondo’s nomination to the position before the full Senate votes on her confirmation. 

At the conclusion of the hearing, Sen. Roger Wicker, the Republican chairman of the committee, told Raimondo that he does not believe she “will be serving as governor of the state of Rhode Island for very much longer.” 

Share

  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Email

Support The 19th

As a nonprofit newsroom, members are critical to our sustainability. Your financial support helps make our journalism possible.

Become a Member

Donate to support our mission

Up Next

Janet Yellen looks on during an event to name President-elect Joe Biden’s economic team.

Business & Economy

Janet Yellen becomes the first woman to serve as Treasury secretary

A well-respected economist, Yellen has previously served as chair of the Federal Reserve and chair of the White House Council of Economic Advisors.

Read the Story

The 19th
The 19th is a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organization. Our stories are free to republish in accordance with these guidelines.

  • Donate
  • Subscribe to the Newsletter
  • Attend an Event
  • Jobs
  • Fellowships
  • Contact Us
  • About Us
  • Community Guidelines
  • Membership
  • Membership FAQ
  • Major Gifts
  • Sponsorship
  • Privacy
  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Instagram