Harris’ economic policy draws on Biden alums Brian Deiss and Mike Pyle

Economist Brian Deese has begun advising Vice President Kamala Harris as she develops her economic policy plan, according to three people familiar with the matter.

Dees is a former director of President Joe Biden’s National Economic Council and a fellow at MIT’s Center for Energy and Environmental Policy Research.

Harris has said he plans to release the first formal platform of his brand new presidential campaign — a focus on boosting the middle class — in the coming days.

Deese has been a key adviser and sounding board for Harris as he and his team put together a policy plan, the people said, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss internal campaign operations.

Harris works with Mike Pyle, the former deputy national security adviser for international economics in the Biden White House, these people said.

Dees and Pyle are both veterans of asset management firm BlackRock, bringing significant Wall Street experience to the Harris team. Pyle was Global Chief Investment Strategist at BlackRock. Dees served three years as the firm’s head of fixed investment.

Dean Millison, Harris’ chief economic adviser until 2023, is another key figure back in the fold, a person with direct knowledge told CNBC. Millison currently works as a lobbyist for Ford Motor Company.

Dees did not return requests for comment. Pile did not respond to a request for comment sent through Macro Advisory Partners, where he is a senior adviser. A spokeswoman for Ford did not immediately return a request for comment.

Along with Pyle and Dees, former senior Treasury official Brian Nelson also advises Harris on policy. So is longtime White House senior adviser Jean Sperling.

Dees is part of a small team of advisers who help Harris and his team develop policy proposals related to Biden’s broader economic agenda. As Biden’s vice president for the past three years, Harris has been a vocal champion of his economic recovery plan across the country and around the world.

But now that he’s the Democratic nominee, Harris has so far offered few signs of how he might reverse course to build a slightly different version of Biden’s economic agenda.

His barnstorming tour of battleground states last week devoted little time to specifics like tax policy and jobs.

For now, Harris campaign spokesman Charles Ludwak pointed to CNBC’s policy briefings, citing Harris’ recent tarmac remarks to reporters where he addressed central bank independence and his planned policy rollout. He also pointed out her speech Atlanta Two weeks ago, there he hinted at some of his potential policy topics.

In that speech, Harris touched on fighting price-fixing, corporate landlords and drug companies.

Dees was at the forefront of the Biden administration’s economic response to Covid-19, including trillions of dollars in stimulus and tax credits that helped the US economy recover faster than any other country.

He also helped shepherd important pieces of economic legislation through Congress, including the Anti-Inflation Act and the CHIPS Act, key parts of Biden’s legacy in the White House.

Deese’s career in democratic economic policy work spanned several decades.

He began as an economic policy analyst at the progressive think tank Center for American Progress.

He worked on several Democratic presidential campaigns, including former Secretary of State John Kerry in 2004 and former President Barack Obama in 2008.

He joined the Obama White House and became one of the president’s senior advisers.

Dees played a key role in negotiating the Paris climate accord under Obama, positioning him as a climate-focused economic adviser that aligned well with the Biden agenda.