GOP senator, business leaders urge prompt Biden transition

WASHINGTON (AP) — Pressure is increasing on a Trump administration official to authorize a formal transition process for President-elect Joe Biden.

Republican Sen. Rob Portman of Ohio on Monday called for the head of the General Services Administration to release money and staffing needed for the transition.

Portman, a senior member of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, also said Biden should receive high-level briefings on national security and the coronavirus vaccine distribution plan.

Meanwhile, more than 160 business leaders asked GSA chief Emily Murphy to immediately acknowledge Biden as president-elect and begin the transition to a new administration. "Withholding resources and vital information from an incoming administration puts the public and economic health and security of America at risk,'' the business letters said in an open letter to Murphy.

Among those signing the letter were Jon Gray, president of the Blackstone private equity firm; Robert Bakish, president and CEO of ViacomCBS Inc.; Henry Kravis, the co-chief executive of Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co., another private equity giant; David Solomon, CEO at Goldman Sachs; and George H. Walker, CEO of the investment firm Neuberger Berman and a second cousin to former President George W. Bush.

The renewed calls for an official transition came as Biden is building out his administration with key picks for national security and foreign policy roles. Former Secretary of State John Kerry will lead the incoming administration’s effort to combat climate change, while Alejandro Mayorkas will be nominated as Homeland Security secretary.

Biden also plans to nominate veteran diplomat Antony Blinken as his secretary of state, according to multiple people familiar with the Biden...