President-elect Joe Biden announced Monday that he has picked a top aide to House Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer (D-Md.) to be one of his deputy legislative directors.
Biden is hiring Shuwanza Goff, who has served as floor director for the House of Representatives under Hoyer since January 2019. The first Black woman to hold the position, Goff determined which bills came to the House floor, set the legislative schedule, and helped craft the overall House Democratic agenda.
In a statement, Hoyer said Goff “has been instrumental in turning House Democrats’ campaign promises into a successful legislative agenda,” and added that “when the pandemic hit, she also worked hard to ensure this institution could continue to do its work on behalf of the American people safely and efficiently.”
Goff is one of two deputy directors for the Biden legislative shop that the transition team announced Monday. The other is Reema Dodin, a deputy chief of staff and floor leader for Senate Minority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.).
“The American people are eager for our Administration to get to work, and today’s appointees will help advance our agenda and ensure every American has a fair shot,” Biden said in a statement Monday. “In a Biden administration, we will have an open door to the Hill and this team will make sure their views are always represented in the White House.”
Goff and Dodin will report to Louisa Terrell, who was hired Friday to be the director of the White House Office of Legislative Affairs. Terrell worked in President Obama’s legislative affairs shop and worked for Biden when he served in the Senate, among other jobs in the federal government.
Goff has worked for Hoyer for the past dozen years, in a variety of roles. She was director of legislative operations for Hoyer when he was minority whip, and served as floor aide, floor assistant, and staff assistant for the veteran congressman.
Originally from Virginia, Goff has a Bachelor’s degree in political science and government from the University of Tennessee and an M.S. in Justice, Law and Society from American University.
“While I deeply regret losing Shuwanza from my staff, I know that the Biden-Harris Administration and the Congress will be greatly advantaged by her service,” Hoyer said. “The skills and expertise that she will bring to her new role will help the Biden-Harris Administration enact our shared agenda to tackle our nation’s challenges and build back better from this pandemic.”
Josh Kurtz
Founding editor
Founding Editor Josh Kurtz is a veteran chronicler of Maryland politics and government. He began covering the State House in 1995 for The Gazette newspapers, and has been writing about state and local politics ever since. He was an editor at Roll Call, the Capitol Hill newspaper, for eight years, and for eight years was the editor of E&E Daily, which covers energy and environmental policy on Capitol Hill. For 6 1/2 years Kurtz wrote a weekly column on state politics for Center Maryland and has written for several other Maryland publications as well. Kurtz regularly gives speeches and appears on TV and radio shows to discuss Maryland politics.
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