A key economic adviser to Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign – and ex-Elizabeth Warren aide – is a staunch proponent of the administration’s leftist student-debt cancellation, transition away from oil and gas and other items on the “progressive” agenda the Republicans say have only made inflation worse.
Bharat Ramamurti recently joined the revamped Democratic presidential campaign after working as a deputy director of the Biden White House National Economic Council, according to reports from Bloomberg and the New York Times.
He is one of several senior advisers now in the spotlight as Harris looks to distance herself from the political baggage of President Biden’s record on the economy and inflation by delivering a high-profile speech Friday in North Carolina.
But a review of Ramamurti’s past policy stances show the onetime aide to Sen. Warren (D-Mass.) has long supported some of the most controversial Biden administration policies, which critics say caused inflation to soar.
“On clean energy, $15 minimum wage, raising taxes on the rich, reducing the influence of money in politics — and more — the progressive agenda is America’s agenda,” he tweeted in October 2020. “We don’t need to be in a defensive crouch on this stuff — the public is already with us.”
“Broad student loan debt cancellation via executive order is good economics and politics,” Ramamurti also said the following month, pointing to favorable public polls and arguing it would be “better to do $1 trillion in debt cancellation via executive order” than negotiate a bill in Congress.
He had also touted Warren’s plan in the 2020 Democratic primary to forgive up to $50,000 in student debt for those making under $100,000 per year, which prompted one voter to angrily confront her about the cancellation having “screwed” those “who did the right thing” and paid their loans.
Four years later, Ramamurti reaffirmed all those same priorities were still critical to winning back the White House.
“A Biden win would likely mean higher taxes on the rich, more student debt relief, lower drug costs, and greater clean energy investments,” he posted on X in March before the Democratic incumbent dropped out of the 2024 race.
That economic assessment came as the national debt surged to $34 trillion and is on track to surpass $45.7 trillion over the next 10 years — or around 114% of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP), Congressional Budget Office estimates show.
Around $6 trillion of that increase alone took place over the past administration, according to the nonpartisan Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget.
An April poll found most voters placed blame on the Biden-Harris administration for juicing inflation and a plurality gave them an “F” grade for hiking the debt.
While she has disavowed her past statements in favor of some high-spending federal plans — including the potentially $38 trillion Medicare for All package and the $234 billion Green New Deal — neither Harris nor her advisers appear prepared to reverse support for the debt cancellation push or address criticisms about the higher cost of goods and services.
“We’ve won the battle against inflation,” Ramamurti crowed Wednesday on X, despite average weekly wages having been largely outpaced by a 20% price increase across the board since January 20, 2021, according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
He also fiercely defended the revamped Biden-Harris plan to forgive student loans as a “smart approach,” which is slated to cost nearly half a trillion dollars and was partially blocked by a recent federal court ruling.
An earlier $430 billion student debt cancellation effort was struck down by the Supreme Court last year, which more Americans supported than didn’t, an ABC News/Ipsos survey found.
Congressional Republicans had denounced both as “ploys” to “buy votes” that would transfer the burden of the massive debt to the nearly 90% of Americans who never attended higher education institutions or already paid their way.
The Harris campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
