US president-elect Donald Trump made two cabinet selections yesterday, choosing fierce Obamacare critic Tom Price to lead the department of health and human services, and Elaine Chao, who served in the cabinet of George W Bush, as secretary of transport.

Mr Trump announced his choice of Mr Price, while the selection of Ms Chao, the wife of Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell, was revealed byother sources.

Mr Price is “exceptionally qualified” to lead an effort to repeal and replace President Barack Obama’s health care law, Mr Trump said. The president-elect’s transition team did not immediately respond to questions about the congressman’s past commitment to transform Medicare into a voucher-like system, a position at odds with Mr Trump’s repeated campaign promises not to cut the popular health care programme that serves an estimated 57 million people.

The president-elect appeared to still be torn over his choice for secretary of state. He summoned Mitt Romney to New York for dinner last night to discuss the post for a second time. He was also meeting Bob Corker, the chairman of the Senate foreign relations committee, who is getting new attention from Mr Trump’s team. On Monday, Mr Trump spent an hour with retired general David Petraeus, another contender.

Mr Trump’s decision to consider Mr Romney for the powerful cabinet post has sparked a public backlash from some of his closest aides and allies. Campaign manager Kellyanne Conway has warned that it would be a “betrayal” to Trump supporters if he selected Mr Romney, who was a severe critic of the president-elect during the campaign.

Even as he weighed crucial cabinet decisions, Mr Trump appeared distracted by outside issues. He took to Twitter early yesterday to declare that “nobody should be allowed to burn the American flag”.

He warned that those who do should face “perhaps loss of citizenship or year in jail!” </s> Image copyright AP Image caption Steven Mnuchin amassed a fortune during his 17 years at Goldman Sachs

Former Goldman Sachs executive Steve Mnuchin has confirmed he will be the new US treasury secretary ahead of an official announcement.

Mr Mnuchin told CNBC on Wednesday his priority in his new job would be to cut corporate taxes and boost the economy.

He said that cutting taxes would stimulate "huge economic growth".

Mr Mnuchin was Mr Trump's campaign finance chairman and has no government experience. He earned a fortune over 17 years at Goldman Sachs investment bank.

He told CNBC that most tax cuts would benefit middle-income people.

"Any reductions we have in upper income taxes will be offset by less deductions so that there will be no absolute tax cut for the upper class," he said.

On Tuesday, Mr Trump picked Tom Price as health secretary and Elaine Chao as transportation secretary.

He is still weighing his options in filling the posts of state and defence.

Wall Street insider

After leaving Goldman Sachs Mr Mnuchin founded a movie production company that was behind such box office hits as the X-Men franchise and American Sniper.

But it is not yet clear whether Mr Trump's first key economic policy move, potentially picking a consummate Wall Street insider to helm the nation's financial system, will be welcomed by supporters who were energised by the Republican's vow to "drain the swamp" of special interests.

Image copyright AP Image caption Tom Price (L) has been picked as health secretary and Elaine Chao (R) for transportation secretary

Billionaire investor Wilbur Ross - known as "the king of bankruptcy" for his restructuring of failing industries - is tipped to be named as Mr Trump's commerce secretary.

Elaine Chao

Ms Chao, the wife of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, led the Labor Department from 2001-09 under President George W Bush.

Born in Taiwan, she was the first Asian-American woman to hold a position in a presidential cabinet.

The 63-year-old also served as deputy secretary of transportation in President George HW Bush's administration.

Ms Chao will play a crucial role under Mr Trump, who has vowed to make infrastructure spending on the country's roads, bridges and other public transit an integral part of his agenda.

She came to the US with her family at the age of eight and settled in New York, where her father became a shipping magnate.

Image copyright Getty Images Image caption Ms Chao is married to Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell

Tom Price

Mr Price, a 62-year-old congressman and orthopaedic surgeon, serves as the chairman of the House of Representatives budget committee.

The Georgia congressman has fiercely opposed the Affordable Healthcare Act, considered Mr Obama's flagship measure, and is expected to play a key role in efforts to dismantle the law.

During his election campaign, Mr Trump vowed to repeal and replace the act, but has since said he favours keeping certain provisions.

Mr Trump said Mr Price was a "tireless problem solver" and "the go-to expert on healthcare policy".

Mr Price said he was looking forward to the opportunity of serving as health secretary on behalf of the American people.

He said his aim was to create a new system that worked for patients, families and doctors, adding that it should "protect the well-being of the country while embracing its innovative spirit".

But the appointment provoked a backlash from Democrats.

Liberal New York Mayor Bill de Blasio tweeted: "Donald Trump's HHS pick makes it clear that he wants to take away health care from the aging and the poor. It will be up to us to stop him."

On Tuesday, Mr Trump met Mitt Romney for a second time despite one of his top aides launching a public campaign against offering the former Massachusetts governor the post of secretary of state.

Mr Trump had dinner with Mr Romney and the president-elect's chief of staff, Reince Priebus.

Senior adviser Kellyanne Conway spoke out against Mr Romney on Sunday, saying Mr Trump's supporters felt "betrayed" he would consider the 2012 Republican nominee for the prominent role.

Image caption Donald Trump had dinner with Mitt Romney (right) and his chief of staff Reince Priebus (left) on Tuesday

Mr Romney was one of Mr Trump's harshest critics during the campaign.

The president-elect will also sit down with Tennessee Senator Bob Corker, the chairman of the Senate foreign relations committee.

The two men are leading contenders for the all-important diplomatic post.

Earlier, Mr Trump met retired Gen David Petraeus. He said he was "very impressed" with the former CIA director in a tweet after their meeting on Monday. </s> By Steve Peoples, Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar and Julie Pace, The Associated Press

WASHINGTON — President-elect Donald Trump is enlisting a trio of nominees with deep ties to Washington and Wall Street to fill out his Cabinet, including former Goldman Sachs executive Steven Mnuchin as secretary of the Treasury Department.

On Tuesday, Trump also chose Georgia Rep. Tom Price to oversee the nation’s health care system, picking a fierce “Obamacare” critic who has championed efforts to privatize Medicare. And he selected another veteran Republican, Elaine Chao, a former labor secretary and the wife of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, to lead the Department of Transportation.

Mnuchin’s official announcement was expected as early as Wednesday, according to a person familiar with the decision who insisted on anonymity in order to confirm the pick ahead of time.

Mnuchin, 53, led Trump’s finance operations during the presidential campaign and become close with the president-elect and his family. But he has no government experience, which could prove a hurdle in navigating the tricky politics of Washington.

If confirmed by the Senate, Mnuchin would play a central role in shaping Trump’s tax policies and infrastructure plans. He would also lead an agency tasked with implementing international economic sanctions.

Mnuchin is expected to be joined on Trump’s senior economic team by another financier, Wilbur Ross. The billionaire investor is considered the “king of bankruptcy” for buying beaten-down companies with the potential to deliver profits.

Trump spent much of Tuesday in his Manhattan skyscraper, racing through meetings with prospective administration hires as high-profile vacancies remain — none bigger than secretary of state. He emerged in the evening for a private dinner with former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, who is on the shortlist for the nation’s chief diplomat.

A transition official said the president-elect and Vice President-elect Mike Pence will travel to Indiana on Thursday for an event with Carrier, the air conditioning company. During the campaign, Trump repeatedly used the news of Carrier’s plans to move some business to Mexico as criticism of Democratic trade policies. Carrier tweeted, “We are pleased to have reached a deal with President-elect Trump & VP-elect Pence to keep close to 1,000 jobs in Indy.”

Price, picked to lead the Department of Health and Human Services after more than a decade in Congress, helped craft House Speaker Paul Ryan’s plan to privatize Medicare — a position Trump opposed in the campaign.

Price’s selection raised questions about the incoming president’s commitment to Medicare, among other popular entitlement programs he repeatedly vowed to preserve before the election. The Georgia congressman led GOP efforts on Capitol Hill to transform Medicare into a voucher-like system, a change that if enacted, would likely dramatically reduce government spending on the health care program that serves an estimated 57 million people.

Trump did not address Price’s position on Medicare in a statement released by his transition team. The team did not respond to subsequent questions about it.

“Chairman Price, a renowned physician, has earned a reputation for being a tireless problem solver and the go-to expert on health care policy, making him the ideal choice to serve in this capacity,” Trump said. “He is exceptionally qualified to shepherd our commitment to repeal and replace Obamacare and bring affordable and accessible health care to every American.”

Trump, in a 2015 interview promoted on his campaign website, pledged not to cut expensive entitlement programs that Republicans have fought for years to cut to help reduce the federal deficit.

“I’m not going to cut Social Security like every other Republican. And I’m not going to cut Medicare or Medicaid. Every other Republican’s going to cut,” Trump told the Daily Signal.

He later changed his mind on Medicaid, embracing the GOP concept of turning the program over to the states with a fixed amount of federal “block grant” funding.

Like any Cabinet official, Price would carry out the wishes of the president. And a sweeping Medicare initiative would have to go through Congress with some Democratic support, which would be unlikely.

Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders charged that Price “has a long history of wanting to do exactly the opposite of what Trump campaigned on.”

Like Price, Elaine Chao is well-known in Washington. She was the first Asian-American woman to serve in a president’s Cabinet, as labor secretary under George W. Bush.

Her record in that post suggests she would bring a light hand to safety enforcement as transportation secretary. Under Chao at Labor, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration didn’t issue a single significant new safety regulation for four years. Mine safety inspectors were cut and inspections reduced.

Whether it’s integrating drones into the national airspace, deploying self-driving cars or “some other new technology, she’s not going to be especially inclined to second guess the industry when they say that this will be safe,” said Thomas McGarity, a University of Texas law professor and author of “Freedom to Harm,” a book about the Labor Department that includes Chao’s tenure.

The president-elect summoned Romney for dinner Tuesday night to discuss the secretary of state job for a second time. He also met with Tennessee Sen. Bob Corker, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, having met with former CIA director David Petraeus the day before.

After his meeting, Corker told reporters, “The world needs to know that the secretary of state is someone who speaks fully for the president,” a possible jab at Romney, who aggressively opposed Trump’s candidacy.

Transition aides said Trump was likely at least a few days away from a decision.

Even as he weighed crucial Cabinet decisions, Trump appeared distracted by outside issues — or eager to create distractions himself. He tweeted that “nobody should be allowed to burn the American flag.” He warned that those who do should face “perhaps loss of citizenship or year in jail!”

Trump offered no context for his message. The Supreme Court has ruled that flag burning is protected by the First Amendment, and Republican House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy said Tuesday he doesn’t support Trump’s approach.

“I support the First Amendment,” he said.

AP writers Catherine Lucey and Jonathan Lemire in New York and Joan Lowry and Erica Werner in Washington contributed to this report. </s> WASHINGTON- President-elect Donald Trump is enlisting a trio of nominees with deep ties to Washington and Wall Street to fill out his Cabinet, including former Goldman Sachs executive Steven Mnuchin as secretary of the Treasury Department.

On Tuesday, Trump also chose Georgia Rep. Tom Price to oversee the nation's health care system, picking a fierce "Obamacare" critic who has championed efforts to privatize Medicare. And he selected another veteran Republican, Elaine Chao, a former labor secretary and the wife of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, to lead the Department of Transportation.

Mnuchin's official announcement was expected as early as Wednesday, according to a person familiar with the decision who insisted on anonymity in order to confirm the pick ahead of time.

Mnuchin, 53, led Trump's finance operations during the presidential campaign and become close with the president-elect and his family. But he has no government experience, which could prove a hurdle in navigating the tricky politics of Washington.

If confirmed by the Senate, Mnuchin would play a central role in shaping Trump's tax policies and infrastructure plans. He would also lead an agency tasked with implementing international economic sanctions.

Mnuchin is expected to be joined on Trump's senior economic team by another financier, Wilbur Ross. The billionaire investor is considered the "king of bankruptcy" for buying beaten-down companies with the potential to deliver profits.

Trump spent much of Tuesday in his Manhattan skyscraper, racing through meetings with prospective administration hires as high-profile vacancies remain — none bigger than secretary of state. He emerged in the evening for a private dinner with former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, who is on the shortlist for the nation's chief diplomat.

Romney spoke briefly to reporters after the meal, saying he has "increasing hope" that Trump can lead the country to a "better future."

A transition official said the president-elect and Vice President-elect Mike Pence will travel to Indiana on Thursday for an event with Carrier, the air conditioning company. During the campaign, Trump repeatedly used the news of Carrier's plans to move some business to Mexico as criticism of Democratic trade policies. Carrier tweeted, "We are pleased to have reached a deal with President-elect Trump & VP-elect Pence to keep close to 1,000 jobs in Indy."

Price, picked to lead the Department of Health and Human Services after more than a decade in Congress, helped craft House Speaker Paul Ryan's plan to privatize Medicare — a position Trump opposed in the campaign.

Price's selection raised questions about the incoming president's commitment to Medicare, among other popular entitlement programs he repeatedly vowed to preserve before the election. The Georgia congressman led GOP efforts on Capitol Hill to transform Medicare into a voucher-like system, a change that if enacted, would likely dramatically reduce government spending on the health care program that serves an estimated 57 million people. </s> WASHINGTON — President-elect Donald Trump is tapping conservatives with deep ties to Washington and Wall Street to fill out key Cabinet roles as he continues to deliberate over his secretary of state.

Trump was moving forward with nominations, including former Goldman Sachs executive Steven Mnuchin as secretary of the Treasury.

Mnuchin's official announcement was expected as early as Wednesday, according to a person familiar with the decision who insisted on anonymity in order to confirm the pick ahead of time.

Trump on Tuesday chose Georgia Rep. Tom Price to oversee the nation's health care system, picking a fierce "Obamacare" critic who has championed efforts to privatize Medicare. And he selected another veteran Republican, Elaine Chao, a former labor secretary and the wife of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, to head the Department of Transportation.

Mnuchin, 53, led Trump's finance operations during the presidential campaign and became close to the president-elect and his family. But he has no government experience, which could prove a hurdle in navigating the tricky politics of Washington.

If confirmed by the Senate, Mnuchin would play a central role in shaping Trump's tax policies and infrastructure plans. He would also lead an agency tasked with implementing international economic sanctions.

Mnuchin is expected to be joined on Trump's senior economic team by another financier, Wilbur Ross. The billionaire investor is considered the "king of bankruptcy" for buying beaten-down companies with the potential to deliver profits.

Trump dined on frog legs and scallops with 2012 Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney in Manhattan Tuesday night. After the elegant meal, the former Massachusetts governor — once a vocal critic — praised Trump for succeeding where he had failed, saying the president-elect offers a "message of inclusion and bringing people together."

The meeting — their second in-person session — came as Trump is publicly weighing several options for secretary of state, including Tennessee Sen. Bob Corker, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and former CIA director David Petraeus.

Trump said on Twitter that he and Vice President-elect Mike Pence will travel to Indiana on Thursday for an event with Carrier, the air-conditioning company. During the campaign, Trump repeatedly used news of Carrier's plans to move some business to Mexico as criticism of Democratic trade policies. Carrier tweeted, "We are pleased to have reached a deal with President-elect Trump & VP-elect Pence to keep close to 1,000 jobs in Indy."

Price, picked to lead the Department of Health and Human Services after more than a decade in Congress, helped craft House Speaker Paul Ryan's plan to privatize Medicare — a position Trump opposed in the campaign.

Price's selection raised questions about the incoming president's commitment to Medicare, among other popular entitlement programs he repeatedly vowed to preserve before the election. The Georgia congressman led GOP efforts on Capitol Hill to transform Medicare into a voucher-like system, a change that if enacted, would likely dramatically reduce government spending on the health care program that serves an estimated 57 million people.

Trump, in a 2015 interview promoted on his campaign website, pledged not to cut expensive entitlement programs that Republicans have fought for years to cut to help reduce the federal deficit.

He later changed his mind on Medicaid, embracing the GOP concept of turning the program over to the states with a fixed amount of federal "block grant" funding.

Like Price, Chao is well-known in Washington. She was the first Asian-American woman to serve in a president's Cabinet, as labor secretary under George W. Bush.

Her record in that post suggests she would bring a light hand to safety enforcement as transportation secretary. Under Chao at Labor, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration didn't issue a single significant new safety regulation for four years. Mine safety inspectors were cut and inspections reduced.

Transition aides said Trump was likely at least a few days away from a decision on secretary of state. </s> WASHINGTON (AP) — President-elect Donald Trump is enlisting a trio of nominees with deep ties to Washington and Wall Street to fill out his Cabinet, including former Goldman Sachs executive Steven Mnuchin as secretary of the Treasury Department.

On Tuesday, Trump also chose Georgia Rep. Tom Price to oversee the nation’s health care system, picking a fierce “Obamacare” critic who has championed efforts to privatize Medicare. And he selected another veteran Republican, Elaine Chao, a former labor secretary and the wife of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, to lead the Department of Transportation.

Mnuchin’s official announcement was expected as early as Wednesday, according to a person familiar with the decision who insisted on anonymity in order to confirm the pick ahead of time.

Mnuchin, 53, led Trump’s finance operations during the presidential campaign and become close with the president-elect and his family. But he has no government experience, which could prove a hurdle in navigating the tricky politics of Washington.

If confirmed by the Senate, Mnuchin would play a central role in shaping Trump’s tax policies and infrastructure plans. He would also lead an agency tasked with implementing international economic sanctions.

Mnuchin is expected to be joined on Trump’s senior economic team by another financier, Wilbur Ross. The billionaire investor is considered the “king of bankruptcy” for buying beaten-down companies with the potential to deliver profits.

Trump spent much of Tuesday in his Manhattan skyscraper, racing through meetings with prospective administration hires as high-profile vacancies remain — none bigger than secretary of state. He emerged in the evening for a private dinner with former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, who is on the shortlist for the nation’s chief diplomat.

Romney spoke briefly to reporters after the meal, saying he has “increasing hope” that Trump can lead the country to a “better future.”

A transition official said the president-elect and Vice President-elect Mike Pence will travel to Indiana on Thursday for an event with Carrier, the air conditioning company. During the campaign, Trump repeatedly used the news of Carrier’s plans to move some business to Mexico as criticism of Democratic trade policies. Carrier tweeted, “We are pleased to have reached a deal with President-elect Trump & VP-elect Pence to keep close to 1,000 jobs in Indy.”

Price, picked to lead the Department of Health and Human Services after more than a decade in Congress, helped craft House Speaker Paul Ryan’s plan to privatize Medicare — a position Trump opposed in the campaign.

Price’s selection raised questions about the incoming president’s commitment to Medicare, among other popular entitlement programs he repeatedly vowed to preserve before the election. The Georgia congressman led GOP efforts on Capitol Hill to transform Medicare into a voucher-like system, a change that if enacted, would likely dramatically reduce government spending on the health care program that serves an estimated 57 million people.

Trump did not address Price’s position on Medicare in a statement released by his transition team. The team did not respond to subsequent questions about it.

“Chairman Price, a renowned physician, has earned a reputation for being a tireless problem solver and the go-to expert on health care policy, making him the ideal choice to serve in this capacity,” Trump said. “He is exceptionally qualified to shepherd our commitment to repeal and replace Obamacare and bring affordable and accessible health care to every American.”

Trump, in a 2015 interview promoted on his campaign website, pledged not to cut expensive entitlement programs that Republicans have fought for years to cut to help reduce the federal deficit.

“I’m not going to cut Social Security like every other Republican. And I’m not going to cut Medicare or Medicaid. Every other Republican’s going to cut,” Trump told the Daily Signal.

He later changed his mind on Medicaid, embracing the GOP concept of turning the program over to the states with a fixed amount of federal “block grant” funding.

Like any Cabinet official, Price would carry out the wishes of the president. And a sweeping Medicare initiative would have to go through Congress with some Democratic support, which would be unlikely.

Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders charged that Price “has a long history of wanting to do exactly the opposite of what Trump campaigned on.”

Like Price, Elaine Chao is well-known in Washington. She was the first Asian-American woman to serve in a president’s Cabinet, as labor secretary under George W. Bush.

Her record in that post suggests she would bring a light hand to safety enforcement as transportation secretary. Under Chao at Labor, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration didn’t issue a single significant new safety regulation for four years. Mine safety inspectors were cut and inspections reduced.

Whether it’s integrating drones into the national airspace, deploying self-driving cars or “some other new technology, she’s not going to be especially inclined to second guess the industry when they say that this will be safe,” said Thomas McGarity, a University of Texas law professor and author of “Freedom to Harm,” a book about the Labor Department that includes Chao’s tenure.

The president-elect summoned Romney for dinner Tuesday night to discuss the secretary of state job for a second time. He also met with Tennessee Sen. Bob Corker, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, having met with former CIA director David Petraeus the day before.

After his meeting, Corker told reporters, “The world needs to know that the secretary of state is someone who speaks fully for the president,” a possible jab at Romney, who aggressively opposed Trump’s candidacy.

Transition aides said Trump was likely at least a few days away from a decision.

Even as he weighed crucial Cabinet decisions, Trump appeared distracted by outside issues — or eager to create distractions himself. He tweeted that “nobody should be allowed to burn the American flag.” He warned that those who do should face “perhaps loss of citizenship or year in jail!”

Trump offered no context for his message. The Supreme Court has ruled that flag burning is protected by the First Amendment, and Republican House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy said Tuesday he doesn’t support Trump’s approach.

“I support the First Amendment,” he said. </s> WASHINGTON (AP) — President-elect Donald Trump is tapping conservatives with deep ties to Washington and Wall Street to fill out key Cabinet roles as he continues to deliberate over his secretary of state.

Trump was moving forward with nominations, including former Goldman Sachs executive Steven Mnuchin as secretary of the Treasury.

Mnuchin’s official announcement was expected as early as Wednesday, according to a person familiar with the decision who insisted on anonymity in order to confirm the pick ahead of time.

Trump on Tuesday chose Georgia Rep. Tom Price to oversee the nation’s health care system, picking a fierce “Obamacare” critic who has championed efforts to privatize Medicare. And he selected another veteran Republican, Elaine Chao, a former labor secretary and the wife of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, to head the Department of Transportation.

Mnuchin, 53, led Trump’s finance operations during the presidential campaign and became close to the president-elect and his family. But he has no government experience, which could prove a hurdle in navigating the tricky politics of Washington.

If confirmed by the Senate, Mnuchin would play a central role in shaping Trump’s tax policies and infrastructure plans. He would also lead an agency tasked with implementing international economic sanctions.

Mnuchin is expected to be joined on Trump’s senior economic team by another financier, Wilbur Ross. The billionaire investor is considered the “king of bankruptcy” for buying beaten-down companies with the potential to deliver profits.

Trump dined on frog legs and scallops with 2012 Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney in Manhattan Tuesday night. After the elegant meal, the former Massachusetts governor — once a vocal critic — praised Trump for succeeding where he had failed, saying the president-elect offers a “message of inclusion and bringing people together.”

The meeting — their second in-person session — came as Trump is publicly weighing several options for secretary of state, including Tennessee Sen. Bob Corker, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and former CIA director David Petraeus.

Trump said on Twitter that he and Vice President-elect Mike Pence will travel to Indiana on Thursday for an event with Carrier, the air-conditioning company. During the campaign, Trump repeatedly used news of Carrier’s plans to move some business to Mexico as criticism of Democratic trade policies. Carrier tweeted, “We are pleased to have reached a deal with President-elect Trump & VP-elect Pence to keep close to 1,000 jobs in Indy.”

Price, picked to lead the Department of Health and Human Services after more than a decade in Congress, helped craft House Speaker Paul Ryan’s plan to privatize Medicare — a position Trump opposed in the campaign.

Price’s selection raised questions about the incoming president’s commitment to Medicare, among other popular entitlement programs he repeatedly vowed to preserve before the election. The Georgia congressman led GOP efforts on Capitol Hill to transform Medicare into a voucher-like system, a change that if enacted, would likely dramatically reduce government spending on the health care program that serves an estimated 57 million people.

Trump, in a 2015 interview promoted on his campaign website, pledged not to cut expensive entitlement programs that Republicans have fought for years to cut to help reduce the federal deficit.

He later changed his mind on Medicaid, embracing the GOP concept of turning the program over to the states with a fixed amount of federal “block grant” funding.

Like Price, Chao is well-known in Washington. She was the first Asian-American woman to serve in a president’s Cabinet, as labor secretary under George W. Bush.

Her record in that post suggests she would bring a light hand to safety enforcement as transportation secretary. Under Chao at Labor, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration didn’t issue a single significant new safety regulation for four years. Mine safety inspectors were cut and inspections reduced.

Transition aides said Trump was likely at least a few days away from a decision on secretary of state.

AP writers Catherine Lucey and Jonathan Lemire in New York and Joan Lowry and Erica Werner in Washington contributed to this report. </s> Senator David Perdue spoke on Thursday on the Senate floor about the upcoming confirmation vote on President Donald J. Trump’s nominee for Secretary of Health and Human Services, Dr. Tom Price.

He said, "I rise tonight to support the confirmation of my friend, fellow Georgian, and our next Health and Human Services Secretary, Dr. Tom Price.

"I’ve known Dr. Price personally and worked with him for quite some time. He is a remarkable individual and we should take comfort in his nomination to this important position because he has years of service and years of experience working within our nation’s health care system. He has been a practicing physician, a state legislator, and a member of the United States House of Representatives.



"Dr. Price knows that government intrusion has already negatively impacted patient care in the last few years. He has years of professional experience as a physician and he’s seen as a leading voice in health care policy.



"My colleagues across the aisle oppose him, they say, primarily because of his opposition to the Affordable Care Act. The truth is, Obamacare is collapsing under its own weight today.



"I think we are taking a great American who is willing to volunteer to serve and become a member of this President Trump’s cabinet, and try to make health care better for every American. I can’t think of another person in this country who is more qualified for this timely responsibility.



"Dr. Price will work to end Washington’s takeover of our health care system, and I know he will work tirelessly for a health care system that compassionately improves the lives of every American.



"Truly, there is no one more qualified to serve as our next Health and Human Services Secretary than my good friend, Dr. Tom Price. I’m proud to support him and I’m glad we’re finally grinding our way to his confirmation later tonight.” </s> WASHINGTON — President-elect Donald Trump, moving to complete formation of his Cabinet and decide other key administration posts, chose former campaign rival Ben Carson on Monday to be secretary of the Department of Housing and Urban Development.

Trump’s decision, announced by his transition office, comes as the real estate mogul continues a series of interviews, meetings with aides and other deliberations aimed at forming his administration and following his announcement of several Cabinet appointees last week.

In a statement, Trump said he was “thrilled to nominate” Carson, describing the retired neurosurgeon as having “a brilliant mind” and saying he “is passionate about strengthening communities and families within those communities.”

Carson had been coy about joining the new administration, saying shortly after Trump’s election victory that he wasn’t certain he’d fit into a Cabinet-style role. The discussion at that time centered on speculation that Carson might be selected to head the sprawling Department of Health and Human Services.

“Ben shares my optimism about the future of our country,” Trump said, “and is part of ensuring that this is a presidency representing all Americans.”

Carson was among the 16 Republican candidates who challenged Trump for the Republican nomination. He was a favorite of religious conservatives and a strong fundraiser, but his team burned through money quickly and he failed to win any of the early primary contests.

Trump treated Carson harshly during the primary, saying he had a “pathological temper.” Still, Carson quickly endorsed Trump after he dropped out of the contest.

As a Trump supporter, Carson was both loyal and critical. He conceded that Trump had “major defects” and said at one point that he would have preferred a scenario other than Trump winning the Republican primary.

Last week, Trump announced that he planned to nominate former Goldman Sachs executive Steven Mnuchin as his Treasury secretary and billionaire investor Wilbur Ross to lead the Commerce Department. He chose Betsy DeVos to be secretary of education and Elaine Chao, the wife of Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell, to be transportation secretary. Trump also has turned to retired Marine Gen. James Mattis to be secretary of defense.

He now has expanded his pool of candidates for secretary of state, raising a question about whether former CIA Director David Petraeus’ guilty plea for leaking classified information disqualifies him to serve as the nation’s top diplomat.

The remark came a week after Trump’s aides confirmed that the president-elect had settled on four finalists for the post. Two people close to the transition tell The Associated Press that Trump is moving away from two of the four: former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani and Mitt Romney, the 2012 Republican presidential nominee.

That would leave Petraeus as a top contender, along with Tennessee Republican Sen. Bob Corker, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Both people close to the transition said Trump’s prolonged decision-making process has left the door open to other options. Among other possibilities, one official says is Jon Huntsman, a former Republican Utah governor who also served as the ambassador to China and speaks Mandarin.

The people close to the transition spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the private process publicly.

Carson, his choice for housing secretary, has often recounted his childhood as the son of a single mother in inner-city Detroit in his books and motivational speeches. In his 1996 autobiography “Gifted Hands,” Carson wrote of the humiliation he felt using food stamps from his mom to pay for bread and milk, and said how he began to excel at school only after receiving a free pair of glasses that allowed him to see the lessons written on chalk boards.

Carson has not said whether his family ever lived in federally-funded housing or received Section 8 subsidies to help pay rent. But as a political figure he has criticized such public assistance programs for creating “dependency” on the government among low-income minorities.

“I’m interested in getting rid of dependency, and I want us to find a way to allow people to excel in our society, and as more and more people hear that message, they will recognize who is truly on their side and who is trying to keep them suppressed and cultivate their votes,” Carson said in a speech at the Conservative Political Action Conference in 2015.

With the help of financial aid and scholarships, Carson attended Yale University and the University of Michigan Medical School before being the first African-American named as the head of pediatric neurosurgery at Johns Hopkins Children’s Center in Baltimore. There he garnered national acclaim for directing the first surgery to separate twins connected at the back of the head.

Carson’s rise to political prominence began with a 2013 speech at the National Prayer Breakfast, where he gave a withering critique of the modern welfare state and the nation’s overall direction while President Barack Obama was seated just feet away. During the 2016 Republican presidential primary, Carson’s inspirational life story, Christian faith and anti-establishment message briefly catapulted him last year ahead of Trump and other rivals in opinion polls.

But his success on the campaign trail quickly crumbled amid questions about whether elements of his rags-to-riches autobiography were exaggerated or fabricated — including a purported childhood fit of rage in which he tried to stab his best friend in the belly only to be foiled by a belt buckle. Carson’s business dealings also faced scrutiny, including his ties to a wealthy Pittsburgh dentist whom he helped avoid prison time for felony health care fraud.

The Associated Press first reported last year that Carson invested millions of dollars in real estate deals with Alfonso A. Costa, whose dentistry license was revoked following a felony conviction. According to required financial disclosure forms he filed in 2015, Carson his wife made between $200,000 and $2 million a year from those real estate investments. Costa also served on the board of Carson’s charity, the Carson Scholars Fund, which provides college scholarships to children in need.
President-elect Donald Trump names Tom Price as United States Secretary of Health and Human Services; former President George W. Bush Administration official and wife of Mitch McConnell Elaine Chao as United States Secretary of Transportation; (BBC)