View this email in your browser

**DECEMBER 2, 2020**

Kuttner on TAP

The Coming Confirmation Wars

****

Depending on who wins the Georgia Senate seats, the confirmation of
Biden nominees could be trench warfare. If Republicans are in control,
they'll probably let eminent and moderate nominees through, but also
demand some human sacrifices.

Topping their hit list is Biden's OMB nominee, Neera Tanden, who heads
the Center for American Progress. What outrages Republicans is not her
ideology-Tanden is a moderate liberal-but her snarky partisanship,
expressed in edgy tweets.

One backup is Gene Sperling. He's had top economic jobs under Clinton
and Obama, except OMB director. In the musical-chairs derby, Sperling
was left without a seat.

Speaking of nominees, I wrote a piece Monday
that connected
some dots in a misleading fashion. My subject was Adewale Adeyemo,
presumptive deputy Treasury secretary.

Adeyemo's career path suggested a familiar pattern-the
Washington-Wall Street revolving door. But after several additional
interviews, a more complex picture emerges, of a man of integrity with
an admirable personal story.

Adeyemo came to America as a baby, grew up in a rough neighborhood east
of L.A., and somehow made it to Berkeley and Yale Law School. Working
for Obama while still in his twenties, he was dispatched to help
Elizabeth Warren set up the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

Warren and other CFPB veterans sing his praises as a man not running his
own agenda but skilled at making things work. "Wally was deeply
committed to consumer protection, gigantically smart, enormously
generous of spirit, confident but not arrogant," according to Raj Date,
who was Warren's deputy. "He made everyone around him better."

It's less than ideal that Adeyemo later spent two years at financial
giant BlackRock. But my interviews suggest that he is an honorable man
who was not installed at Treasury to do the bidding of BlackRock
president Larry Fink.

Wall Street surely has far too much influence in Washington, yet not
every financial-industry veteran is forever tainted. One Wall Street
alum who became a tough regulator is Gary Gensler, now likely to get a
senior Biden post.

Adeyemo, though no lefty, will make a good complement to Janet Yellen.
And yes, his two years on Wall Street will help him win confirmation.

~ ROBERT KUTTNER

Follow Robert Kuttner on Twitter

Robert Kuttner's latest book is
The Stakes: 2020 and the Survival of American Democracy
.

[link removed]

Public Transportation in Crisis

Their ridership slashed in the pandemic, urban and rural systems need
funding, which Congress has refused to provide. Here's how some
systems are coping-and some aren't. BY GABRIELLE GURLEY

The House Foreign Affairs Committee Showdown

Reps. Gregory Meeks and Joaquin Castro offer significantly different
visions on foreign policy. BY ALEXANDER SAMMON

Why Is Biden Raising Millions in Corporate Cash for a Virtual
Inauguration?

The Presidential Inaugural Committee will allow individual donations up
to $500,000 and corporate donations up to $1 million. For what? BY DAVID
DAYEN

Public Investment Reimagined

An American Prospect roundtable BY SAULE OMAROVA & CONTRIBUTORS

Unsanitized: Hospital Understaffing, Lack of Capacity Coming Back to
Bite

Plus, Mitch McConnell isn't doing coronavirus relief. This is The
COVID-19 Daily Report for December 2, 2020. BY DAVID DAYEN

To receive this newsletter directly in your inbox, click here to
subscribe. 

[link removed]

 

[link removed]

 

[link removed]

 

[link removed]

 

[link removed]

 

[link removed]

 

[link removed]

YOUR TAX DEDUCTIBLE DONATION SUPPORTS INDEPENDENT JOURNALISM

Copyright (C) 2020 The American Prospect. All rights reserved.
_________________

Sent to [email protected]

Unsubscribe:
[link removed]

The American Prospect, Inc., 1225 I Street NW, Suite 600, Washington, DC xxxxxx, United States