U.S. Vice President and Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris speaks at a campaign rally at the Thomas and Mack Center at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, Nevada, on August 10, 2024.
Rhonda Churchill | AFP | Getty Images
Economist Brian Deese has begun advising Vice President Kamala Harris on her economic policy plan, according to three people familiar with the matter.
Deese is the former director of President Joe Biden’s National Economic Council and a fellow at MIT’s Center for Energy and Environmental Policy Research.
Harris said she plans to release the first formal platform of her new presidential campaign — which will focus on lifting the middle class — in the coming days.
Deese has been a key adviser and sounding board to Harris as she and her team develop policy plans, people familiar with the matter said.
Harris is also working with Mike Pyle, the former deputy national security adviser for international economics in the Biden White House, these people said.
National Economic Council Director Brian Deese (left) and Vice President Kamala Harris (right) receive the weekly economic briefing in the Oval Office of the White House on April 9, 2021 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Amr Alfiky-Pool/Getty Images)
Amr Alfiqi | Getty Images
Deese and Pyle, both alumni of asset management giant BlackRock, bring significant Wall Street experience to Harris’ team. Pyle was formerly BlackRock’s global chief investment strategist. Deese served as the firm’s head of sustainable investing for three years.
Another key figure returning is Deanne Millison, Harris’ top economic adviser, who will serve until 2023, a person familiar with the matter told CNBC. Millicent currently serves as a lobbyist for Ford Motor Company.
Deese did not respond to a request for comment. Pyle did not respond to a request for comment sent through Macro Advisory Partners, where he is a senior adviser. A Ford spokesman did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Along with Pyle and Deese, former senior Treasury Department official Brian Nelson also provides policy advice to Harris. So does longtime White House senior adviser Gene Sperling.
Deese is part of a small group of advisers who are helping Harris and her team develop policy proposals that are consistent with Biden’s broader economic agenda. As Biden’s vice president for the past three years, Harris has been a strong supporter of his economic recovery plans nationally and globally.
But now that Harris has emerged as the Democratic nominee, she has so far given little indication of how she might change course and craft a slightly different version of Biden’s economic agenda.
She toured battleground states last week but spent little time discussing specifics such as tax policy and jobs.
For now, Harris campaign spokesman Charles Lutvak pointed CNBC to Harris’ recent remarks to reporters on the tarmac, in which she addressed the issue of Fed independence and her planned policy rollout. He also pointed to a speech she gave two weeks ago in Atlanta, which hinted at some of her possible policy themes.
In that speech, Harris talked about price measurement, corporate landlords and the fight against pharmaceutical giants.
Deese is at the forefront of the Biden administration’s economic response to Covid-19, including through trillions of dollars in stimulus and tax credits that have helped the U.S. economy recover faster than almost any other country.
He also helped guide Congress through key economic legislation, such as the Inflation Reduction Act and the CHIPS Act, which are central to Biden’s White House legacy.
Deese’s career spans decades working on Democratic economic policy.
He began as an economic policy analyst at the Center for American Progress, a progressive think tank.
He worked on numerous Democratic presidential campaigns, including the 2004 campaign for former Secretary of State John Kerry and the 2008 campaign for former President Barack Obama.
He eventually joined the Obama administration and worked his way up to become one of the president’s senior advisers.
Deese also played a key role in negotiating the Paris climate agreement under Obama, positioning him as a climate-focused economic adviser well-aligned with Biden’s agenda.
