President Joe Biden has repeatedly said that he will run again in 2024. However, a new report suggests that multiple administration officials aren’t even planning to stay for his entire term.
Prominent economic figures preparing to head for the exits
In an article published on Thursday, Bloomberg cited people said to be familiar with his plans as saying that National Economic Council (NEC) director Brian Deese will depart sometime next spring or summer.
The same piece said that Council of Economic Advisers chairwoman Cecilia Rouse is expected to leave her position early in 2023 and return to her professorship at the Princeton School of Public and International Affairs.
Meanwhile, it is believed that Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen will make her exit once the president’s reelection campaign begins in earnest.
Sources who spoke to Bloomberg on the condition of anonymity indicated that Deese may be replaced by Deputy Treasury Secretary Wally Adeyemo.
Adeyemo previously served as deputy NEC director under former President Barack Obama and then went on to head up the Obama Foundation in 2019.
Also considered to be a potential replacement for Deese is Gene Sperling, a senior Biden administration adviser who has coordinated the White House’s pandemic relief measures and worked in both the Obama and Clinton administrations.
Potential replacements for Rouse include fellow Council of Economic Advisers member Jared Bernstein, who advised the president during his 2020 campaign.
Another possibility is that the administration will seek to recruit a candidate from elsewhere, including academic institutions.
Deese, Sperling, Bernstein, and Adeyemo declined to comment on the potential departure
Bloomberg noted how “Bernstein declined to comment on Rouse’s departure or on whether he wanted the top job during an event hosted by Axios on Wednesday.”
The publication stated that Deese and Sperling were tight-lipped as well, with a White House spokesperson refusing to comment. So was Adeyemo, who declined through a Treasury Department spokesperson to speak on his future plans.
Further, a White House official reportedly dismissed any talk of staffing changes as being mere rumors. The unnamed official went on to add that there is no timeline regarding when Deese will leave his post.