Brian Deese
Director, National Economic Council
Brian Christopher Deese was born in February 1978 in Belmont, Massachusetts. He earned an undergraduate degree in international policies and economics from Middlebury College and received a Juris Doctor from Yale Law School.
He was a junior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and a research assistant at the Center for Global Development. He later worked as a senior policy analyst for economic policy at the Center for American Progress. He was actively involved in the 2008 presidential campaigns.
He was appointed by President Barack Obama to serve as a special assistant to the president for economic policy, serving in the National Economic Council. Later he was named deputy director of the Office of Management and Budget, where he served until being named to the position of Senior Advisor to the President.
In January 2021, President Joe Biden named Deese to be the Director of the National Economic Council.
Deese is married to Kara Arsenault.
In the News…
National Economic Council Director Brian Deese, when asked on a Sunday talk show about comments both he and President Biden made in June minimizing the severity of rising inflation in the U.S., stated that those comments were not wrong. He said months ago that, “to the degree that people are focused on inflationary pressures in the short term, that really is not the issue.”
When asked if he was wrong about inflation and that it is not a “short term pop up a little bit and then go back down issue,” Director Deese acknowledged that inflation is “worrisome.”
He said, “I think what we have said consistently is that the pandemic and the economy are interlinked and certainly we saw just as like the Delta variant posed real health challenges to the economy, it also had economic impacts.”
He added that inflation is a global issue caused by supply-chain challenges associated with COVID-19. He said the recently passed bipartisan infrastructure bill is the “most significant step” that the country will take in decades to “actually invest in the arteries that help move goods more quickly through the economy.” He said the social spending package still before Congress will ease inflationary pressures.
He stated, “Inflation is high right now and it is affecting consumers in their pocketbook and also in their outlook for the economy. But those concerns underscore why it is so important that we move forward on the Build Back Better legislation. This, more than anything, will go at the cost that Americans face.”
Contact this Leader…
Did you pray for Director Deese? You can let him know at:
Director Brian Deese
National Economic Council
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Ave NW
Washington, DC 20500
