Barack Obama's second-term Cabinet begins to take shape

* Homeland Security - Secretary Janet Napolitano had been expected to take over the Justice file if Holder left. Now that the White House has said Holder will stay, Napolitano is expected to remain in her current job.

* Agriculture - Secretary Tom Vilsack, who has spearheaded talks with Congress about cuts to farm subsidies, will stay on for Obama's second term.

* Health and Human Services - Secretary Kathleen Sebelius will remain in her job.

* Veterans Affairs - Secretary Eric Shinseki, a former U.S. Army chief of staff, will stay on.

* Education - Secretary Arne Duncan will stay in his job.

COMMERCE - VACANT

Secretary John Bryson resigned in June for health reasons. Rebecca Blank, an economist, has been acting secretary since then.

Possible replacements:

- Steve Case - co-founder of America Online, is part of Obama's Council on Jobs and Competitiveness, an advisory group of corporate executives, labor leaders and academics.

- Daniel Doctoroff - chief executive of the financial news service Bloomberg and a former deputy mayor of New York City under Mayor Michael Bloomberg, founder of the eponymous company.

- Ronald Kirk - the U.S. trade representative. He has made clear he wants to return to his hometown of Dallas after four years of traveling the globe. But he might be tempted to stay, if Obama were to offer him the Commerce Department post and four more years in the Cabinet.

- Jeff Zients - acting director of Obama's budget office and a former management consultant who could play a role should the president seek to reorganize the Commerce Department and the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative into a consolidated business-oriented government agency.

LABOR - VACANT

Secretary Hilda Solis, the first Latina to head a major U.S. federal agency, announced plans to resign. It is not clear who is in the running to replace her.

... contd.

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