US President-elect Joe Biden has appointed Palestinian-American longtime Capitol Hill aide to his legislative affairs team.
Reema Dodin, who is the daughter of Palestinian immigrants from the Hebron-district town of Dura, will serve as deputy director of the White House Office of Legislative Affairs.
Dodin currently serves as a volunteer on the Biden-Harris Transition Team, leading legislative engagement for the confirmations process. She has served as a volunteer voter-protection counsel on a number of campaigns, including the Obama for America campaign.
She also serves as deputy chief of staff and floor director to Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin, the Democratic whip in the Senate.
Dodin is a graduate of the University of California at Berkeley and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
In a statement, Durbin lauded the choice, noting that Dodin started working for him 14 years ago while a law school intern and “progressed to become one of the most respected staffers on the Hill.”
“In short, Reema is just what our new president needs to help him in the Senate,” Durbin said. “My loss is the president-elect’s and the nation’s gain.”
