Harris’ economic stance in spotlight as jobs data stirs concerns

By Kayla Tausche, CNN

(CNN) — For years, as Americans have expressed frustration about the economy and the cost of living, the Biden-Harris administration has pointed to job creation as the major bright spot and their preferred indicator of a strong economy.

Friday’s jobs data casts a long shadow on that bright spot, with an underwhelming number of jobs created, slowing wage growth, and a significant increase in the unemployment rate – all putting the Federal Reserve on notice to juice the economy by lowering interest rates. The data also points a spotlight on the economic platform of Vice President Kamala Harris, who is poised to accept the Democratic presidential nomination this month amid signs of a slowing economy.

In her brief time as the presumptive Democratic nominee, Harris has touted her positions on abortion rights and her experience as a prosecutor. But her economic views are less defined, maintaining broad references to strengthening the middle class, even as her record investigating Wall Street and her farther-left 2019 primary campaign platform have executives and investors on edge.

According to those close to Harris, advisers and administration officials, Harris’ economic views were described as “pragmatic,” “centrist,” and even “pro-business,” with a goal of leveraging private-sector friendships for better outcomes at the ground level.

Personnel as policy

Harris has two staffers who manage economic and domestic policy issues, and she was briefed by staff on the most recent jobs data.

But she has not had an economist on her staff since early 2022, when Mike Pyle departed the Office of the Vice President to join the National Security Council and National Economic Council as a policy negotiator known as a “sherpa.”

Within the administration, she seeks input often from deputy secretaries – including Deputy Commerce Secretary Don Graves, Deputy Energy Secretary David Turk, and Deputy Treasury Secretary Wally Adeyemo. At the Cabinet-level, Harris and Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen have developed a particularly close relationship, officials say.

Pyle, officials said, is still on her speed dial – as are other administration alumni, including Biden’s former economic policy lead Brian Deese and Harris’ former domestic policy chief Rohini Kosoglu – to discuss how she approaches various issues.

To spearhead the policy development at the campaign, Harris this week tapped Treasury undersecretary Brian Nelson, with whom she worked closely as California’s attorney general. Nelson’s first day was Friday.

“He is as close to Harris and the second gentleman as almost anyone in the administration,” said an official close to Harris.

Former colleagues of Nelson describe him less as a wonk and more as a “statesman” with broad managerial experience who could easily slide into a Cabinet role were Harris to win in November.

But the contours of Nelson’s own policy views are elusive, leading executives and donors to keep watching closely to see whom in particular she consults on economic advice for evidence of how she’d govern.

“That’s going to say a hell of a lot,” said one longtime Democratic operative, providing two examples of an establishment, mainstream economist like Jason Furman, who worked for President Barack Obama, or a progressive firebrand like Rohit Chopra, a former adviser to Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren and current director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

Policy proposals

In 2020, then-candidate Biden assembled a “unity” task force co-chaired by Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders representing the full spectrum of views across the Democratic Party. The result was more progressive policies – like student debt forgiveness – being added to the platform.

Now running as a continuation of the current administration, Harris already has a blueprint to work with, with the most recent fiscal year budget, published by the White House in March, as a starting point, according to three people familiar with the matter.

“She can just pick a half dozen policies from there and call it a day,” said one former administration official.

Friends and advisers said her top priorities are policies that help working families, small businesses and underserved communities.

She also favors moderate tax policy, people familiar with her views said.

“She wants to make sure the US is the place investment and capital continues to want to flow,” a friend and adviser said, noting that that position has at times put her at odds with the party.

The Harris campaign says she will not raise taxes on any individual making less than $400,000.

During discussions in 2023 over how to allocate roughly $100 billion in incentives for semiconductor companies, Harris insisted that the Commerce Department consider metropolitan areas like Columbus, Ohio, and Syracuse, New York, to spread the wealth, people involved in the discussions said.

And while she’s been a quiet partner to Biden and continued advocating for his policies, she has also raised questions about some of his decisions.

Early in the term, as Biden was deciding who to appoint to his Cabinet, Harris challenged Biden’s leaning toward appointing Tom Vilsack to lead the Department of Agriculture, an aide recalled. Harris challenged the notion of appointing an older, White man – who had already done the job during Obama’s two terms – when there were farmers of color who had secured his victory, in Georgia in particular.

Biden, according to the aide, defended the decision by saying because Vilsack knew the ins and outs of the agency, he could run it – and its massive budget – remotely, as he would need to do before the country fully reopened post-pandemic.

Private-sector engagement

Harris has cultivated relationships in the business community that friends expect her to lean on heavily for outside advice. She speaks frequently to Ray McGuire, a longtime Wall Street executive now serving as president of Lazard, and Blair Effron, the co-founder of Centerview Partners, according to people familiar with the matter. And in recent months, she hosted JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon for lunch at the Naval Observatory, a source told CNN.

The broad business relationships she’s cultivated, officials say, have proven useful. When tapped by the president to address the root causes of migration, Harris developed a public-private partnership to invest in job creation in Central America. Dozens of corporations, including Meta, Target, and Columbia Sportswear, pledged roughly $6 billion – of which only about $1 billion has been spent.

But the prosecutorial bent is never far away.

“She’s pro-business, but she also will make sure businesses doing something wrong will be held accountable,” one longtime friend said.

As attorney general of California, she secured an $18 billion settlement from banks including JPMorgan Chase and Citigroup for their role in the housing crisis – a case that one adviser noted Nelson also worked on during his time at that office.

And she’s been known to favor crackdowns on anticompetitive hiring practices – suing eBay over such policies in the attorney general role, and advocating for the Biden administration’s regulation banning non-compete clauses in employment agreements. That ban, pursued by Federal Trade Commission chair Lina Khan, went into effect this year.

An administration official close to Harris said she has liked some of Khan’s work, but Harris “is not as strident as Lina,” whom some donors have publicly called to be replaced if Harris wins because of her crusades against business mergers.

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