Biden Adds Two to Economic Team

Last week, President-elect Joe Biden announced two new members of his White House economic team: David Kamin, who will serve as deputy director of the National Economic Council (NEC), and Bharat Ramamurti, who will be deputy NEC director for consumer protection and financial reform. Kamin served as a senior budget official under President Obama and Ramamurti formerly served as an aide to Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.).

According to Politico, Biden described the appointees as having “broad viewpoints on how to build a stronger and more inclusive middle class.” Neither position requires Senate confirmation.

“Working families are struggling through the deepest, most inequitable economic and jobs crisis in modern history,” Biden also stated. “This is no time to build back the way things were before⎯this is the moment to build a new American economy that works for all.”

Biden’s appointees bolster the progressive qualifications of his economic team, especially as National Economic Council Director Brian Deese has been criticized for his work for Wall Street giant BlackRock on climate change issues.

Ramamurti is currently managing director of the corporate power program at the Roosevelt Institute, which works to shift power away from large companies. He also served as a member of the Congressional Oversight Commission, which oversaw a $500 billion fund to help businesses and local governments affected by the pandemic.

Kamin is currently a law professor at New York University, after serving as a special assistant in the Obama Administration. He also worked as a senior advisor at the Office of Management and Budget and the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, where he examined policy options for taxing wealthy Americans.