Biden names new advisers to his White House economic team

US President-elect Joe Biden named three new economic advisers, two of whom have deep progressive ties.

President-elect Joe Biden on Monday added three new economic advisers to his White House team, two of whom have deep progressive ties.

Biden said he would name David Kamin, a former Obama administration economic official, as deputy director of the NEC. Bharat Ramamurti, a former aide to Senator Elizabeth Warren, will be deputy NEC director for financial reform and consumer protection. Biden also named Joelle Gamble as special assistant to the president for economic policy.

Ramamurti and Gamble both have ties to the Roosevelt Institute, a progressive economic think tank. Ramamurti, Warren’s point person on financial regulation, was considered a candidate for a job on the Securities and Exchange Commission.

“Working families are struggling through the deepest, most inequitable economic and jobs crisis in modern history. 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 said in a statement.

“With their robust experience and qualifications, they will provide the needed voices to guide my administration in overcoming our nation’s unprecedented economic challenges,” he said.

Ramamurti is currently a commissioner on the congressional oversight committee created to monitor the $500 billion economic stabilization fund created by the Cares Act, through which the Treasury Department has done direct loans to companies and launched several emergency lending programs with the Federal Reserve.

He has been vocal in criticizing Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin’s direct loans and work with the Federal Reserve, particularly shutting down the Fed facilities that were established by the Cares Act.

The new officials will join Brian Deese, Biden’s incoming NEC director, in working to implement Biden’s economic agenda and efforts to rebuild the economy amid a worsening pandemic that has left millions unemployed.