Clyburn: Biden's team should 'take a hard look beyond gender and color' for cabinet positions

House Majority Whip James Clyburn encouraged Joe Biden and his transition team on Thursday to "take a hard look beyond gender and color" when selecting individuals for Cabinet positions.

Clyburn was asked for his reaction to dissatisfaction that there hasn't been more Latinos or Asian Americans named to Biden's Cabinet so far. In his answer, Clyburn referred to his wife's background, explaining that her life "experience" was totally different from his own.

"Those backgrounds, those experiences, though we are both the same skin color, same complexion, we were different," he said during a "Assembling an Administration" discussion hosted by The Atlantic. "And these accommodations had to be reconciled and made. So I just think that when you're vetting candidates, you need to, for any office, you need to take a hard look beyond gender and color."

Clyburn, who has served in the House since 1993, also weighed in on the ideological differences among Democrats in the House and Senate.

"There is nobody in the Democratic caucus that is more concerned about police behavior than I am, nobody," he said. "I've got a 25-year-old grandson that I worry about every time he gets into his automobile. And I've had the experience of growing up in the South where I have lived that kind of oppression and suppression. So I'm concerned about that."

Clyburn described himself as a "flaming progressive" on key issues.

"Nobody is more concerned about affordable housing and I have a record here in this Congress to prove it. On broadband, I have been issuing a clarion call for rural communities to be treated much more fairly in our processes," he said. "So I am a flaming progressive on all of those issues, but I'm also concerned about allowing my opponents to weaponize my words and phrases. And so that's why I have spoken up strongly against us using catchphrases that can undercut the movement," he added, referring to his opposition to the "defund the police" message from Black Lives Matter activists.