PRESIDENT Clinton completed his second-term cabinet team yesterday. He nominated his Transportation Secretary, Mr Federico Pena, to take over from Ms Hazel O'Leary as Energy Secretary and a White House staff member, Mr Alexis Herman, as Labour Secretary.
Mr Clinton also nominated the administrator of the Federal Highway Authority, Mr Rodney Slater, as Transportation Secretary, and Mr Andrew Cuomo, eldest son of the former governor of New York, Mr Mario Cuomo, as secretary of the Housing and Urban Development Department.
The nominations complete Mr Clinton's cabinet appointments for his second term with an emphasis on diversity. Mr Pena was picked for energy after Hispanic groups put pressure on the White House and Mr Herman, director of the White House office of public liaison, was chosen after civil rights groups and the Rev Jesse Jackson lobbied for more blacks in the cabinet.
The only other Hispanic picked so far for Mr Clinton's second-term cabinet is the Democratic member of Congress for New Mexico, Mr Bill Richardson, who has been nominated as US ambassador to the UN.
To chair the White House Council of Economic Advisers, Mr Clinton picked Ms Janet Yellen, a member of the Federal Reserve Board. He chose Ms Aida Alvarez, director of a federal housing programme, to head the Small Business Administration.
Mr Clinton also named his boyhood friend and former White House chief of staff, Mr Thomas "Mack" McLarty, as a special envoy to Latin America. He selected a White House aide, Mr Bruce Reed, as his domestic policy adviser, replacing Ms Carol Rasco.