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**DECEMBER 14, 2020**

Kuttner on TAP

Biden's Revival of U.S. Manufacturing: Personnel Is Policy

****

Biden's "Build Back Better" platform on industry, technology,
infrastructure and green transition is terrific. What remains to be seen
is how it will be carried out.

What's at issue is a large-scale industrial policy to re-shore supply
chains, develop the next generation of green technology, and connect
those dots to a massive jobs and infrastructure program. These goals
involve several cabinet departments, and cry out for coordination at the
highest level.

It would be smart to appoint a senior person with the full backing of
the president and lodge that person at the National Economic
Council-with authority to coordinate how different departments and
presidential actions make the four-way connection between technology
policy, reviving industry, transition to renewables, and job-intensive
infrastructure.

People with the knowledge of trade and industry and the savvy to get
this done do not grow on trees. Three who come to mind are:

Gene Sperling. A veteran of the more progressive wings of both the
Clinton and Obama administrations, Sperling did not get one of the top
Biden jobs. But Sperling, who was a major participant in devising Build
Back Better, would be well suited to helping to carry it out.

Mike Wessel. A widely respected policy expert at the juncture of
industry and trade policy, Wessel was runner-up for U.S. Trade Rep.
He's too senior for one of the USTR deputy jobs, but too talented not
to be in the mix. Wessel is famous for getting along with all players.

Simon Johnson. An MIT economist and former chief economist for the
International Monetary Fund, Johnson has worked closely with the Biden
campaign and is being touted for one of the sub-cabinet posts at
Treasury. But he knows the connections between industry, finance, and
trade, and could also do the industry coordinator job well.

Biden needs to build back better, and he needs to staff up accordingly.
For more on the president-elect's industrial policy, click here
.

~ ROBERT KUTTNER

Follow Robert Kuttner on Twitter

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

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