A4| Tuesday, December 1, 2020 PWLC101112HTGKRFAM123456789OIXX ** THE WALL STREET JOURNAL.

CAPITAL JOURNAL

By Gerald F. Seib

WASHINGTON—President-
elect Joe Biden has chosen
Brian Deese, a former adviser
to Barack Obama, to be the di-
rector of the National Eco-
nomic Council, according to
people familiar with the mat-
ter.

In his new post, which
doesn’t require Senate confir-
mation, Mr. Deese will play a
lead role in implementing Mr.
Biden’s economic agenda, with
a focus on rebuilding the econ-
omy amid a pandemic that has
devastated many U.S. busi-
nesses and resulted in millions
of lost jobs.
Mr. Deese served in multi-
ple senior White House roles
during the Obama administra-
tion. After working on Mr.
Obama’s 2008 campaign, he
joined Mr. Obama’s National
Economic Council, eventually
rising to deputy director. He
then served as deputy director
of the White House Office of
Management and Budget. He

ByAndrew Restuccia,

Nick Timiraos

andKate Davidson

task got a lot more compli-

cated with the assassination

of Iran’s top nuclear scientist.

Iran’s leaders blame Israel

and are thinking more of re-

venge rather than diplomacy.

Troop levels in Afghani-

stan and Iraq:The postelec-

tion Trump Pentagon has said

it would reduce troop levels

in both countries to 2,500.

That decision makes military

leaders uneasy and was criti-

cized by a range of Republi-

can leaders as unwise be-

cause it came despite the

Taliban’s failure to agree to a

peace deal with the Afghan

government.

But here’s the tricky part

for Mr. Biden: He actually ap-

pears to agree with Mr.

Trump on the virtues of get-

ting out of Afghanistan and

Iraq. Mr. Trump calls the con-

flicts there “endless wars.”

Candidate Biden called them

“forever wars” and said he

would bring home the “vast

majority” of American troops

there.

Iraq and Afghanistan put

Mr. Biden’s basic internation-

alist impulses in conflict with

those come-home impulses.

In an interview almost ex-

actly a year ago on America’s

role in the world, Mr. Biden

argued for continued engage-

ment and talked of the need

for residual forces in the re-

gion: “If we don’t organize

the world, who does?” he

said. “Not the good guys. So I

think walking away leaves us

alone.” Asked how many

troops he would leave in Iraq

if he became president, he re-

plied: “God knows what will

be left a year from now.”

The Paris Agreement on

climate change and the

Trans Pacific Partnership

trade deal:The Obama ad-

ministration negotiated

America’s entry into both

agreements; Mr. Trump with-

drew from both.

POLITICS

Early Foreign-Policy Decisions Await Biden

Mr. Biden’s toughest near-

term decision. He was vice

president under Barack

Obama when the deal was

struck, and he has long ar-

gued that it was the best tool

for blocking Iran’s path to a

nuclear weapon. Mr. Trump,

of course, backed out of the

agreement, arguing it merely

delayed Iran’s move toward

nuclear-weapons capability,

and he reimposed harsh eco-

nomic sanctions. Iran has re-

sponded by resuming ura-

nium enrichment on a large

scale.

In his campaign, Mr. Biden

vowed to re-enter the agree-

ment—with conditions. He

said he would re-enter “if

Tehran returns to compliance

with the deal,” which pre-

sumably means halting that

nuclear enrichment and roll-

ing back its newly accumu-

lated stockpile. And he prom-

ised to “strengthen and

extend it.” So perhaps it’s not

simply a matter of stepping

back into a deal but address-

ing what Israel and other

critics have charged are its

principal shortcomings: the

need to address Iran’s bur-

geoning arsenal of precision

missiles and its support of

extremist groups.

On top of that, Iran has

said its price for re-entering

the deal would include finan-

cial reparations to make up

for damage done by the

Trump administration’s reim-

position of economic sanc-

tions. Thus, reviving the deal

was never going to be sim-

ple—and in recent days the

Re-entering the 2015 Paris

Agreement seems to be a no-

brainer for Mr. Biden, who

has pledged fast action on

climate issues. Yet even that

isn’t simple. Will he demand

more climate action from

China, with its rapid eco-

nomic development, than the

deal envisioned originally?

“We’re going to be stronger

by rejoining and pushing oth-

ers to do more, especially

China,” says Nicholas Burns,

a career foreign-service offi-

cer who served as undersec-

retary of state in the George

W. Bush administration.

The TPP trade agreement,

which would have created a

bloc of a dozen Pacific na-

tions to offset China’s eco-

nomic clout, is even trickier.

Though he was vice president

when the pact was negoti-

ated, Mr. Biden didn’t em-

brace it during his campaign,

arguing, as do the union and

progressive wings of his

Democratic Party, that it

should have had stronger la-

bor and environmental terms.

In that interview a year ago,

he declared: “I’m not going to

sign or participate in any

agreement that doesn’t have

environmentalists or labor at

the table.”

Yet the case for TPP actu-

ally has grown stronger. The

other 11 nations proceeded to

implement the deal on their

own, without the U.S. And in

November, 15 Asian nations

signed a new trade pact that

does include China. For now,

the U.S. is on the outside—

and China in the driver’s seat.

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, right, with Ali Akbar Salehi, head of Iran's nuclear-technology

organization, in 2019. The Iran nuclear deal will be a tough early decision for the president-elect.

IRANIAN PRESIDENCY/EPA/SHUTTERSTOCK

A rule of thumb in Wash-
ington says that when a pres-
ident is hemmed in by Con-
gress and domestic political
constraints, he still can find
freedom of action on the in-
ternational stage.
This rule often applies at
the end of a president’s term,
as his domes-
tic influence
wanes. In the
case of Presi-
dent-elect Joe
Biden, it actu-
ally may apply
at the outset of his term. De-
pending on the outcome of
two Senate runoff races in
Georgia, he may face a Con-
gress divided between the
two parties, and narrowly so.
He will find much more
room for unilateral action on
the foreign-policy front. That’s
particularly true because he
faces early decisions on
whether to undo a set of exec-
utive actions President Trump
took on his own—on Iran, Af-
ghanistan and climate change,
among other topics. Here’s a
look at the most pressing:

The Iran nuclear deal:
This is rapidly emerging as

was later promoted to senior

adviser to the president, a po-

sition that focused in part on

climate change and energy is-

sues. He played a central role

in negotiating the interna-

tional climate-change agree-

ment that was reached in

Paris in 2015.

During his White House

Act, which Republicans have

repeatedly sought to repeal.

If confirmed this would be

Ms. Tanden’s third time serving

in a Democratic administration.

She was the senior adviser for

health reform at the U.S. De-

partment of Health and Human

Services under Mr. Obama. She

also was an associate director

for domestic policy and senior

policy adviser to the first lady

in the Clinton administration.

In announcing his economic

picks on Monday, Mr. Biden

said the team comprises “re-

spected and tested ground-

breaking public servants who

will help the communities

hardest hit by Covid-19 and

address the structural inequi-

ties in our economy.”

In response to an inquiry

about the criticism of Ms.

Tanden’s nomination, a Biden

publicans are willing to work

with Mr. Biden, but Ms.

Tanden “strikes me as maybe

his worst nominee so far.”

It wasn’t known if the push-

back would endanger the pick.

“She’s not just a liberal

ideologue, she’s a partisan ac-

tivist who’s gone after senators

of the majority party,” said

Sen. Kevin Cramer (R., N.D.), a

member of the Senate’s Budget

Committee. “She seems to have

chosen a path that doesn’t lead

to a Senate confirmed office.”

Mr. Biden will need 51 votes

to confirm his nominees. With

control of the Senate still in

question—Democrats next

year will hold at least 48 seats

and Republicans will hold at

least 50 and there are two

runoffs in Georgia—it isn’t

clear how many, if any, Repub-

licans Mr. Biden will need to

confirm Ms. Tanden. Vice

President-elect Kamala Harris

would break any ties.

Ms. Tanden didn’t respond

to requests for comment and a

representative from CAP re-

ferred questions to the Biden

transition team.

Jen Psaki, who will be Pres-

ident-elect Joe Biden’s press

secretary, said on Twitter that

Ms. Tanden is a “brilliant pol-

icy expert.”

Ms. Tanden would be the

first woman of color and the

first South Asian woman to

oversee OMB. During President

Barack Obama’s administration,

Ms. Tanden was one of the ar-

chitects of the Affordable Care

transition official pointed the

Journal to praise of Ms.

Tanden from progressive Dem-

ocrats, including Sen. Eliza-

beth Warren and Rep. Barbara

Lee, and Republican analyst

Bill Kristol, a Trump critic.

Ms. Tanden has produced

consistent criticism of Repub-

licans during this administra-

tion, including calling them

“enablers” of Mr. Trump. In

March, she tweeted: “I’m glad

McConnell is fiddling, while

the markets burn.”

During the Supreme Court

hearing for Justice Brett Ka-

vanaugh, she wrote: “These Re-

publican male senators sitting

in judgment of Dr Ford need to

take up knitting,” referring to a

key witness, Christine Blasey

Ford. She also issued a state-

ment criticizing Sen. Susan

Collins (R., Maine) for what she

called a “pathetically bad faith

argument as cover for Presi-

dent Trump’s vicious attacks

on survivors of sexual assault.”

“I’ve heard that she’s a very

prolific user of Twitter,” Ms.

Collins said Monday. Mr.

McConnell didn’t respond to a

request for comment.

Ms. Tanden also has critics

on the left.

Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders

and Ms. Tanden, a longtime ad-

viser to Hillary Clinton, have had

a tumultuous relationship since

Mr. Sanders ran against Mrs.

Clinton in the 2016 presidential

primary. A Sanders spokesman

declined to comment on how he

would vote on the nomination.

WASHINGTON—President-

elect Joe Biden’s plan to nomi-

nate Neera Tanden to head the

Office of Management and Bud-

get already is stirring tensions

on Capitol Hill, where Republi-

cans say her past comments will

threaten her confirmation and

undercut the new president’s

pledge to calm political waters.

Ms. Tanden, currently the

head of the Center for Ameri-

can Progress, a center-left

think tank, has become an early

lightning rod in Mr. Biden’s

rollout of his team in part due

to comments she has made on

Twitter. She has used the plat-

form to regularly criticize Pres-

ident Trump and Republican

lawmakers, including floating

allegations involving Russia,

while also tussling with the left

wing of the Democratic Party.

Republicans began express-

ing their concerns over the

weekend after The Wall Street

Journal reported she was the

pick. Josh Holmes, an adviser

to Senate Majority Leader

Mitch McConnell (R., Ky.), re-

ferred to her nomination on

Twitter as a “sacrifice to the

confirmation gods.”

“I think in light of her com-

bative and insulting comments

about many members of the

Senate, mainly on our side of

the aisle, that it creates cer-

tainly a problematic path,”

said Sen. John Cornyn (R.,

Texas) on Monday. He said Re-

BYELIZACOLLINS

ANDSIOBHANHUGHES

OMB Pick Draws Fire From Republicans

Neera Tanden has criticized the

GOP during Mr. Trump’s tenure.

ETHAN MILLER/GETTY IMAGES

tenure, he also worked on is-

sues related to the automotive

and financial industries, as

well as the Supreme Court.

After leaving the White

House, Mr. Deese joined Black-

Rock Inc., the world’s largest

asset manager, as global head

of sustainable investing.

Some progressive groups

have raised concerns about

Mr. Deese’s role at BlackRock,

arguing that Mr. Biden

shouldn’t tap individuals with

ties to corporations and the fi-

nancial sector to serve in his

administration.

Mr. Deese’s former col-

leagues defended him.

“I consider Brian to be one

of the smartest climate advo-

cates that I ever had the plea-

sure to work with,” said for-

mer Environmental Protection

Agency Administrator Gina

McCarthy, who worked along-

side Mr. Deese during the

Obama administration. “If any-

body says he isn’t a climate

advocate, I can dispute that.”

Mr. Deese didn’t respond to

requests to comment.

Mr. Biden’s transition team,

which declined to comment,

didn’t unveil Mr. Deese’s ap-

pointment as part of several

economy-related jobs an-

nounced on Monday. People

familiar with the matter said

Mr. Deese’s appointment is ex-

pected to be announced in the

coming days.

Axios first reported Mr.

Deese’s appointment.

Top Economic Adviser Is Selected

Brian Deese held several senior roles in the Obama administration.

JACQUELYN MARTIN/ASSOCIATED PRESS

WASHINGTON—President-

elect Joe Biden gained a

clearer path to redirecting U.S.

telecommunications policy

Monday, after Federal Commu-

nications Commission Chair-

man Ajit Pai announced plans

to step down on Jan. 20.

The Republican chairman’s

departure will allow Demo-

crats to start work soon after

Inauguration Day on their ex-

pected priorities, including re-

storing Obama-era net-neu-

trality rules regulating how

internet service providers

treat traffic on their networks.

Mr. Biden also has said he

wants to focus on universal

broadband access.

“What I really think you

would see in a Democratic ad-

ministration is a focus on the

urban populations that con-

tinue to remain without ser-

vice,” FCC Commissioner Geof-

frey Starks, one of two

Democrats on the commission,

said in a recent interview be-

fore Mr. Pai’s announcement.

Under Mr. Pai, the FCC re-

cently launched a $16 billion

auction process to subsidize

the construction of rural

broadband networks.

Mr. Starks is considered a

candidate to succeed Mr. Pai,

along with the other current

Democratic FCC Commissioner

Jessica Rosenworcel, who didn’t

respond to a request to com-

ment. A representative of Mr.

Starks declined to comment.

Another person considered a

possible successor is Mignon

Clyburn, a telecom, tech and

media-industry consultant who

served as FCC commissioner

and acting chairwoman during

the Obama administration.

Mr. Biden’s choice could

halt some pending Trump ad-

ministration initiatives, in-

cluding a rule-making proce-

dure Mr. Pai began in response

to a presidential executive or-

der that could scale back Sec-

tion 230, the immunity inter-

net companies enjoy for

content posted by their users.

BYRYANTRACY

FCC Chief Plans to

Depart in January

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