National Economic Council
Encyclopedia
The National Economic Council (NEC) of the United States
is the principal forum used by the President of the United States
for considering economic policy matters, separate from matters relating to domestic policy, which are the domain of the Domestic Policy Council
. The council forms part of the Office of White House Policy which contains the DPC, the National Economic Council and various subordinate offices, such as the Office of National AIDS Policy
. The Director of the NEC is titled the Assistant to the President for Economic Policy and Director of the National Economic Council.
to put the then current economic situation of the United States at the forefront of federal policy making.
Even before the formal creation of the NEC, some form of a economic policy staff had existed in the White House since the 1960s. President Lyndon B. Johnson
assigned a senior-level aide to organize staff and develop domestic policy, which included economic policy. In 1970, President Richard M. Nixon issued an executive order that created the Office of Policy Development, a large White House office with jurisdiction over economic and domestic policy. President William J. Clinton again altered the structure by splitting the office, as mentioned above, both parts of which exist today underneath the umbrella of the Office of White House Policy, which can also be known as the Office of Policy Development.
The NEC has four principal functions: to coordinate policy-making for domestic and international economic issues, to coordinate economic policy advice for the President, to ensure that policy decisions and programs are consistent with the President's economic goals, and to monitor implementation of the President's economic policy agenda.
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United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
is the principal forum used by the President of the United States
President of the United States
The President of the United States of America is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces....
for considering economic policy matters, separate from matters relating to domestic policy, which are the domain of the Domestic Policy Council
United States Domestic Policy Council
The Domestic Policy Council of the United States is the principal forum used by the President of the United States for considering domestic policy matters, excluding economic matters, which are the domain of the National Economic Council...
. The council forms part of the Office of White House Policy which contains the DPC, the National Economic Council and various subordinate offices, such as the Office of National AIDS Policy
Office of National AIDS Policy
The Office of National AIDS Policy coordinates the continuing domestic efforts to reduce the number of new infections in the United States. In addition, the Office works to coordinate an increasingly integrated approach to the prevention, care and treatment of HIV/AIDS. The Office also emphasizes...
. The Director of the NEC is titled the Assistant to the President for Economic Policy and Director of the National Economic Council.
History and Mission
The National Economic Council was created on January 25, 1993, by , to coordinate the economic policy making process and provide economic policy advice to the President. The Council also ensures that economic policy decisions and programs are consistent with the President’s stated goals, and monitors the implementation of the President’s economic goals. Its creation fulfilled a major campaign pledge of President ClintonBill Clinton
William Jefferson "Bill" Clinton is an American politician who served as the 42nd President of the United States from 1993 to 2001. Inaugurated at age 46, he was the third-youngest president. He took office at the end of the Cold War, and was the first president of the baby boomer generation...
to put the then current economic situation of the United States at the forefront of federal policy making.
Even before the formal creation of the NEC, some form of a economic policy staff had existed in the White House since the 1960s. President Lyndon B. Johnson
Lyndon B. Johnson
Lyndon Baines Johnson , often referred to as LBJ, was the 36th President of the United States after his service as the 37th Vice President of the United States...
assigned a senior-level aide to organize staff and develop domestic policy, which included economic policy. In 1970, President Richard M. Nixon issued an executive order that created the Office of Policy Development, a large White House office with jurisdiction over economic and domestic policy. President William J. Clinton again altered the structure by splitting the office, as mentioned above, both parts of which exist today underneath the umbrella of the Office of White House Policy, which can also be known as the Office of Policy Development.
The NEC has four principal functions: to coordinate policy-making for domestic and international economic issues, to coordinate economic policy advice for the President, to ensure that policy decisions and programs are consistent with the President's economic goals, and to monitor implementation of the President's economic policy agenda.
Organization
The NEC is composed of numerous department and agency heads within the administration whose policy jurisdictions impact the nation's economy. The NEC Director works in conjunction with these officials to coordinate and implement the President's economic policy objectives. The Director is supported by a staff of policy specialists in various fields including: agriculture, commerce, energy, financial markets, fiscal policy, healthcare, labor, and Social SecuritySocial Security (United States)
In the United States, Social Security refers to the federal Old-Age, Survivors, and Disability Insurance program.The original Social Security Act and the current version of the Act, as amended encompass several social welfare and social insurance programs...
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Directors of the National Economic Council
- Robert RubinRobert RubinRobert Edward Rubin served as the 70th United States Secretary of the Treasury during both the first and second Clinton administrations. Before his government service, he spent 26 years at Goldman Sachs eventually serving as a member of the Board, and Co-Chairman from 1990-1992...
(1993–1995) - Laura Tyson (1995–1996)
- Gene SperlingGene SperlingGene B. Sperling is an American lawyer and political figure, currently serving as a Counselor to Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner. He is also on the staff of the Council on Foreign Relations, where he serves as Senior Fellow for Economic Policy and Director of the Center on Universal Education. He...
(1996–2000) - Lawrence B. LindseyLawrence B. LindseyLawrence B. Lindsey was director of the National Economic Council , and the assistant to the president on economic policy for the U.S. President George W. Bush. He played a leading role in formulating President Bush's $1.35 trillion tax cut plan, convincing candidate Bush that he needed an...
(2001–2002) - Stephen FriedmanStephen Friedman (PFIAB)Stephen Friedman is the former Chairman of the United States President's Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board. He was nominated on October 27, 2005 to replace Brent Scowcroft in the position.-Life and career:...
(2002–2005) - Allan Hubbard (2005–2007)
- Keith HennesseyKeith HennesseyKeith Hennessey is the former Assistant to the U.S. President for Economic Policy and Director of the U.S. National Economic Council. He was appointed to the position in November 2007 by President George W. Bush, and served until the end of Bush's second term in office. Mr...
(November 2007 – 20 January 2009) - Lawrence SummersLawrence SummersLawrence Henry Summers is an American economist. He served as the 71st United States Secretary of the Treasury from 1999 to 2001 under President Bill Clinton. He was Director of the White House United States National Economic Council for President Barack Obama until November 2010.Summers is the...
(20 January 2009 - 31 December 2010) - Gene SperlingGene SperlingGene B. Sperling is an American lawyer and political figure, currently serving as a Counselor to Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner. He is also on the staff of the Council on Foreign Relations, where he serves as Senior Fellow for Economic Policy and Director of the Center on Universal Education. He...
(January 2011 - present)
Membership
| Chair | Barack Obama Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II is the 44th and current President of the United States. He is the first African American to hold the office. Obama previously served as a United States Senator from Illinois, from January 2005 until he resigned following his victory in the 2008 presidential election.Born in... (President of the United States) |
| Director | Gene Sperling Gene Sperling Gene B. Sperling is an American lawyer and political figure, currently serving as a Counselor to Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner. He is also on the staff of the Council on Foreign Relations, where he serves as Senior Fellow for Economic Policy and Director of the Center on Universal Education. He... (Assistant to the President for Economic Policy) |
| Deputy Director for Domestic Affairs | Jason Furman Jason Furman Jason Furman is an economist and influential policy intellectual. On January 28, 2009, Furman was named Deputy Director of the National Economic Council in the administration of President Barack Obama, whom he'd been advising since the latter stages of the 2008 presidential campaign... (Deputy Assistant to the President for Economic Policy) |
| Deputy Director for International Affairs | Diana Farrell Diana Farrell Diana Farrell was a member and one of two Deputy Directors of the United States National Economic Council in the administration of President Barack Obama. She was also a member of the Presidential Task Force on the Auto Industry. On November 22, 2010, Farrell announced that she would be leaving... (Deputy Assistant to the President for Economic Policy) |
| Regular Attendees | Joe Biden Joe Biden Joseph Robinette "Joe" Biden, Jr. is the 47th and current Vice President of the United States, serving under President Barack Obama... (Vice President) Hillary Rodham Clinton Hillary Rodham Clinton Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton is the 67th United States Secretary of State, serving in the administration of President Barack Obama. She was a United States Senator for New York from 2001 to 2009. As the wife of the 42nd President of the United States, Bill Clinton, she was the First Lady of the... (Secretary of State) Timothy Geithner (Secretary of the Treasury) Tom Vilsack Tom Vilsack Thomas James "Tom" Vilsack is an American politician, a member of the Democratic Party, and presently the U.S. Secretary of Agriculture. He served as the 40th Governor of the state of Iowa. He was first elected in 1998 and re-elected to a second four-year term in 2002... (Secretary of Agriculture) Gary Locke Gary Locke Gary Locke may refer to:*Gary Locke , Chinese American politician; U.S. Secretary of Commerce and former Governor of Washington*Gary Locke *Gary Locke... (Secretary of Commerce) Hilda Solis Hilda Solis Hilda Lucia Solis is the 25th United States Secretary of Labor, serving in the Obama administration. She is a member of the Democratic Party and served in the United States House of Representatives from 2001 to 2009, representing the 31st and 32nd congressional districts of California that include... (Secretary of Labor) Shaun Donovan Shaun Donovan Shaun L.S. Donovan is the United States Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, serving in the cabinet of President Barack Obama. Prior to this he headed the New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development... (Secretary of Housing and Urban Development) Ray LaHood Ray LaHood Raymond H. "Ray" LaHood is a Republican politician from Illinois who is currently the United States Secretary of Transportation, having served since 2009. Previously, he represented the Illinois's 18th congressional district in the U.S. House of Representatives for seven terms .-Early life and... (Secretary of Transportation) Steven Chu Steven Chu Steven Chu is an American physicist and the 12th United States Secretary of Energy. Chu is known for his research at Bell Labs in cooling and trapping of atoms with laser light, which won him the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1997, along with his scientific colleagues Claude Cohen-Tannoudji and... (Secretary of Energy) Kathleen Sebelius Kathleen Sebelius Kathleen Sebelius is an American politician currently serving as the 21st Secretary of Health and Human Services. She was the second female Governor of Kansas from 2003 to 2009, the Democratic respondent to the 2008 State of the Union address, and chair-emerita of the Democratic Governors... (Secretary of Health and Human Services) |
| Additional Participants | Lisa P. Jackson Lisa P. Jackson Lisa Perez Jackson is an American chemical engineer currently serving as the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency . Previously, she worked at the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection for 6 years, first as an assistant commissioner and later as commissioner... (Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency) Austan Goolsbee Austan Goolsbee Austan Dean Goolsbee is an American economist, formerly serving as the Chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers and the youngest member of the cabinet of President Barack Obama. Goolsbee is from the University of Chicago where he is the Robert P... (Chair of the Council of Economic Advisers) Jacob Lew Jacob Lew Jacob "Jack" J. Lew is the Director of the United States Office of Management and Budget a position he previously held from 1998 to 2001.-Early life and education:... (Director of the Office of Management and Budget) Ron Kirk Ron Kirk Ronald "Ron" Kirk is the 16th United States Trade Representative, serving in the Obama administration. He served as mayor of Dallas, Texas from 1995 to 2002; he also ran for the United States Senate in 2002.-Early life and career:... (United States Trade Representative) Melody Barnes Melody Barnes Melody C. Barnes was chosen by President Barack Obama to serve as the Director of the Domestic Policy Council for his administration. Obama announced her appointment on November 24, 2008. She was previously Executive Vice President for Policy at the Center for American Progress and led the CAP's... (Assistant to the President for Domestic Policy) James L. Jones James L. Jones James Logan Jones, Jr. is the former United States National Security Advisor and a retired United States Marine Corps General.... (Assistant to the President for National Security) John Holdren John Holdren John Paul Holdren is advisor to President Barack Obama for Science and Technology, Director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, and Co-Chair of the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology... (Assistant to the President for Science and Technology Policy) |
Further reading
- Sarah Rosen Wartell. “The White House: National Economic Council.” In Change for America: A Progressive Blueprint for the 44th President. Edited by Mark Green and Michele Jolin, 15-22. Washington: The Center for American Progress Action Fund, 2008.