Biden Says He Has Picked a Treasury Secretary: Live Updates

President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr. said on Thursday that he had chosen his nominee for Treasury secretary and that he would announce the pick in the near future.

Mr. Biden, at a news conference following a meeting with U.S. governors, said he believed the selection would be accepted by “all elements of the Democratic Party.” He said the choice would be unveiled just before or just after Thanksgiving.

Mr. Biden has been widely expected to choose a Treasury secretary that would make history. The job has only been held by white men in its 231-year history.

Those believed to be on the shortlist include Lael Brainard, a Federal Reserve governor; Janet L. Yellen, the former Fed chair; and Roger W. Ferguson Jr., a former Fed governor and business executive.

Mr. Biden said on Thursday that he believed his choice would satisfy both the moderate and progressive wings of the Democratic Party.

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin on Thursday said that he would not extend several of the Federal Reserve’s emergency lending programs and asked the Fed to return unused funds, a decision that could hinder the Biden administration’s ability to cushion the economic fallout from the virus. If the Fed does give back the money, a Democratic administration would not be able to simply restart the programs, because the congressional appropriation cannot be used to make new loans after the end of the year.

Tyson Foods said on Thursday that it had suspended the employees named in a lawsuit that alleged the manager of a Tyson pork plant in Waterloo, Iowa, organized a betting pool among supervisors to wager on how many workers would get sick.

The lawsuit, filed by the son of Isidro Fernandez, a meatpacking worker who died in late April, said the betting pool was a “cash buy-in, winner take all.” The plant was the site of a deadly coronavirus outbreak this spring.

Those accused of being involved in the betting pool have been suspended without pay, Dean Banks, the president and chief executive of Tyson Foods, said in a statement on Thursday. Tyson also enlisted the law firm Covington & Burling to conduct an independent investigation, which will be led by Eric H. Holder Jr., the former U.S. attorney general.

“If these claims are confirmed, we’ll take all measures necessary to root out and remove this disturbing behavior from our company,” Mr. Banks said.

A spokesman for Tyson said in an email that the company had introduced multiple steps to protect its workers in Waterloo. Those included taking employee temperatures, relaxing attendance policies and erecting barriers on the production floor to create social distance.

At the time of Mr. Fernandez’s death, the Tyson plant was a virus hot spot, though the plant’s leadership initially denied that there was an outbreak and rebuffed efforts by local officials to close the…