(Adds Deese comments on MSNBC)
By Steve Holland and Andrea Shalal
WASHINGTON, Feb 2 (Reuters) - U.S. President Joe Biden
on Thursday credited Brian Deese, his outgoing top White House
economic adviser, for helping achieve the administration's
economic vision for the country.
Biden said Deese's work as director of the National Economic
Council (NEC) was critical to ensuring passage of a series of
major laws, including the American Rescue Plan, the Bipartisan
Infrastructure Law, the CHIPS and Science Act, and the Inflation
Reduction Act, that have bolstered the U.S. economy.
"Brian has ... helped steer my economic vision into reality,
and managed the transition of our historic economic recovery to
steady and stable growth," Biden said.
Deese, who is expected to step down in mid-February, told
MSNBC that Biden had not made any decision on his replacement.
Officials familiar with the process told Reuters on
Wednesday that no final decision on a replacement was expected
before the Democratic president gives his State of the Union
speech to Congress next Tuesday.
Biden is focused on that speech and had not made a decision
on the top jobs at the NEC or the Council of Economic Advisers
(CEA), officials said.
Biden aides have considered candidates including Federal
Reserve Vice Chair Lael Brainard for the NEC director's
position, and long-time Biden confidant Jared Bernstein to head
the CEA, according to people familiar with the process.
Brainard is a Harvard-educated Democrat who has been at the
Fed for nearly a decade and served as Treasury's top
international affairs expert under President Barack Obama.
Biden is making over his top economic team as the Fed
continues to hike interest rates but the U.S. labor market
remains tight, raising the prospect of an unusual recession
without significant job losses.
The next NEC director and CEA chair will help shape the
White House's economic policy, from executive orders to
congressional spending bills and raising the debt limit, in the
face of a more hostile U.S. House of Representatives, now
controlled by Republicans.
Other candidates for the NEC job include Deputy Treasury
Secretary Wally Adeyemo and Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo,
Reuters reported last week.
Only the CEA job requires Senate confirmation.
Deese plans to return to his wife and two children, who had
remained in Maine over the past two years, officials said.
(Reporting by Doina Chiacu; editing by Paul Simao and Stephen
Coates)
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