Current Position: Under Secretary of the Treasury-designate for International Affairs (since March 2009)
Credit: James M. Thresher/
The Washington Post
Why She Matters
The world’s leaders haven’t spoken with a single voice when it comes to brokering a solution to the global economic crisis. While the U.S. has called for massive economic stimulus, the European Union President and Czech Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek has labeled the U.S. economic plan the “road to hell.” All the while, China has grown in power, buying up U.S. government debt by the billions. If confirmed as the top U.S. financial diplomat, Brainard will have the difficult job of negotiating an economic truce.
Obama nominated Brainard to serve as Treasury undersecretary for International Affairs after at least two possible candidates, Annette Nazareth and H. Rodgin Cohen, withdrew their names from consideration. Brainard’s nomination came the same day that Obama named Neal S. Wolin as his deputy secretary candidate.
Brainard comes from the liberal Brookings Institution, where she helped start the Global Economy and Development program. She is a veteran of the Clinton administration, where she worked as the deputy director of the National Economic Council under Gene Sperling. She also advised Obama during his 2008 presidential campaign.
At a Glance
Current Position: Under Secretary of the Treasury for International Affairs-designate (since March 2009)
Career History: Founding Director of the Global Economy adn Development Program at the Brookings Institution (2000 to 2009); Deputy Director at the National Economic Council (1994 to 2000); Professor of economics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (1989 to 1994)
Birthday: N/A
Hometown: N/A
Alma Mater: Wesleyan University, B.A., 1983; Harvard University, M.A and PhD (economics), 1989
Spouse: N/A
Religion: N/A
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Web site
Path to Power
Brainard attended Wesleyan University, graduating in 1983. After school, she got a job at the consulting firm McKinsey & Co. She would stay there for two years before attending Harvard University to study economics. After obtaining both her master’s and Ph.D in 1989, Brainard then headed to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology as an associate professor of applied economics, where she stayed for five years.
Clinton Administration
In 1994, Brainard joined the Clinton administration as deputy to National Economic Council Director Gene Sperling. She helped shape the administration’s international economic policy, and also served as its representative at the Group of Eight industrial nations meetings. But in July 2000, as Clinton’s presidency wound down, Brainard left to join the Brooking Institution as a senior fellow.
Brainard continued at Brookings until Obama nominated her for a Treasury position. While at the think tank, Brainard was the founding director of the Global Economy and Development Program. She also took leave of absences to advise Sen. John F. Kerry (D-Mass.) during his 2004 presidential run and Obama during his 2008 campaign.
In March 2009, Obama nominated Brainard to the join the Treasury as under secretary of International Affairs. This nomination brought on a six-month long Senate Finance Committee investigation into Brainard's personal finances.
In November 2009, the Finance Committee finally cleared her nomination to the Senate floor, but not until they submitted Brainard to ten rounds of written cross-examination. At issue were late fees and penalties she had paid long-ago on property taxes for a weekend home she owns in Virginia. The money in question ranged from $121.75 to $489.70. Also, the committee questioned some forms she signed as an employer.
The Issues
In the first two months of Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner’s tenure, he was operating nearly solo in devising a plan to rescue the U.S. economy from the worst financial crisis since the 1930s.As few senior Treasury aides had been appointed, Geithner relied on a bevy of unofficial advisers instead.
Meanwhile, critics attacked Obama and Geithner’s policies in the U.S. and abroad. The day after Brainard was nominated, Czech Prime Minister Topolanek called the U.S. bailout of financial institutions and the $787 Obama economic stimulus package “a road to hell.”
The European Union head argued that the Obama stimulus package encouraged protectionist trade policies and that throwing excessive dollars at the crisis would only casue future problems. The statements highlighted the gap between the American approach to the crisis and the more restrained European one.
If and when she is confirmed, Brainard will be charged with persuading U.S. allies that the aggressive U.S. economic intervention is justified.
U.S. Competiveness
While at Brookings, Brainard directed the Competiveness Initiative that strove to recommend strategies to keep the U.S. globally competitive in the future. In February 2009, Brainard co-authored a report titled “Strengthening American Competitiveness: Regaining Our Competitive Edge” that suggested four ways to maintain U.S. economic strength. The proposals included investing in infrastructure, people, ideas and green transformation. Some of Brainard’s more specific suggestions included:
- Expanding access to broadband Internet
- Providing universal health care
- Creating incentives, like monetary prizes, for innovative ideas
- Increasing investment in green technology research and development.
China
China will top the U.S. global economic agenda when Brainard takes office at Treasury. For years, critics have accused China of artificially deflating its currency, the yuan, making its exports cheap, which has increased the U.S. trade deficit and helped China grow into a dominant global trade force.
In 2007, Brainard, along with co-author Wing Thye Woo, wrote, “Navigating China’s Rise: Develop a Sustained, High-Level Trade Strategy.” The authors recommended some strategies for the next president, including:
- Equipping Americans to compete by investing in science, technology, infrastructure and education
- Convincing Chinese officials to adjust the yuan through coordinated efforts that include partnerships with the International Monetary Fund and Group of Seven member nations
- Shaping the environment in favor of the U.S. by forging relationships with Asian countries whose interests are in line with the U.S.
“The ascendancy of Germany, Japan, and the Soviet Union at the beginning of the last century created mayhem, but the most important country to rise and prevail in the 20th century was the United States, which became the chief architect and upholder of a largely peaceful and prosperous international order,” wrote Brainard and Woo. “Now, confronted with the ultimate need to make room for China, the United States should take actions that will encourage China to march onto the world stage responsibly, just as the United States did a century ago.”
The Network
Pending Senate confirmation, Brainard will join the Treasury under Secretary Timothy Geithner. She’ll also be working closely with Deputy Secretary-designate Neal S. Wolin. She is married to Kurt Campbell, Obama's assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific Affairs.
During the Clinton administration, Brainard was the deputy National Economic adviser, working under then-NEC director Gene Sperling. Sperling now advises Geithner at the Obama Treasury Department.
In 1995, Brainard wrote a paper on unemployment with David Cutler, a Harvard economics professor and a member of Obama’s 2008 presidential transition team who now has lead role in coordinating health-care policy.
Prior to joining the Treasury, Brainard worked at the Brookings Institution. A number of Obama officials worked at Brookings, including many whose tenure at the think tank coincided with Brainard’s. They include: Office of Management and Budget Director Peter Orszag, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Susan E. Rice and Deputy Director of the National Economic Council Jason Furman.
Campaign Contributions
Brainard has donated $16,000 to political causes since 2003, all to Democratic candidates. From 2005 to 2007, Brainard donated $6,400 to former Sen.
Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y). In 2008, Brainard gave $2,300 to
Obama.
