It Is Estimated That Joe Biden Will Appoint Obama's Former Subordinates To His Economic Team

President-elect of the United States, Joe Biden. (Photo: Instagram @joebiden)

JAKARTA - United States (US) President-elect Joe Biden is expected to appoint a former Obama administration adviser, Neera Tanden, as director of the White House budget office and economist Cecilia Rouse as chairman of the Economic Advisory Council.

Biden is also expected to elect Wally Adeyemo, who was President Barack Obama's senior international economic adviser, to serve as Janet Yellen's top deputy in the Treasury Department. Economists Jared Bernstein and Heather Boushey are expected to be appointed members of the Economic Advisory Council, the person said.

Biden chose Brian Deese, another adviser under Obama, to chair the White House's National Economic Council, the New York Times reported, citing three people with knowledge of the matter.

Biden's transition team declined to comment, while Tanden, Rouse, Adeyemo, Bernstein, Boushey and Deese could not be reached for comment.

Biden's economic choices are the subject of a tug-of-war between centrist Democrats, who primarily want a return to expertise and competence, and progressives, who want dramatic moves to fulfill the most important promises of the Democratic campaign to make US capitalism fairer for all. The nominations for Tanden, Rouse, and Adeyemo require Senate confirmation.

Just like 2009 with Obama, whose vice president was Biden, the next administration on January 20 inherits an economy that is struggling to face serious challenges in the short term.

But this time, the economic hit wrought by the coronavirus pandemic exposes striking wealth and racial disparities. The progressive group wants Biden's team to quickly address this racial gap. They leaned heavily on him to avoid corporate lobbyists and prioritize multiple options.

"The economic options so far represent a broad diversity, deep expertise, long Washington experience," said Matt Bennett, co-founder of Third Way, a Democratic political consultancy, quoted by Antara, Monday, November 30.

The appointment of Tanden, who heads the Center for American Progress, a left-leaning center of thought, may have drawn criticism from the left.

Tanden, who was Obama's health care adviser and prior to that of Hillary Clinton's adviser, has clashed with progressives over the Democratic Party's 2016 presidential candidacy.

Rouse, a labor economist at Princeton University whose research focuses on the economics of education and tackling wealth inequality, is well-liked by progressives. He previously served as a member of Obama's Economic Advisory Council.

Rouse criticized the Trump administration's economic response to the pandemic, noting in a Princeton University podcast in April that small business aid had failed. He also spoke out in favor of more direct assistance to workers through their employers, and expressed concern about the impact of the pandemic on worsening income disparities.

Adeyemo was the White House's senior national security adviser to the international economy during the Obama administration, as well as former Finance Secretary Jack Lew's top assistant. He is currently the president of the Obama Foundation.

Bernstein served as Biden's chief economic adviser as the Obama administration struggled to pull the United States out of the Great Recession.

He is tasked with calculating and explaining how many jobs Obama's 2009 recovery measures saved, and is widely expected to have an equally prominent role in the Biden administration.

Boushey is known for research that focuses on how inequality can hinder economic growth. As chief executive and co-founder of the Washington Center for Equitable Growth, a center for progressive economic thought, Boushey worked with Biden's team as informal economic adviser.

Nearly 14 million Americans received unemployment benefits ending on December 26, and the continuing surge in the coronavirus means no one knows when they might be able to return to work.

Biden's economic agenda will probably focus on getting the country through the coronavirus crisis, both as a health and economic issue.