Senior economics aide Gene Sperling is leaving the White House to work on the Harris campaign

WASHINGTON (AP) — White House senior adviser Gene Sperling is leaving his administration position to work with Vice President Kamala Harris’ election campaign as the Democrats step up efforts to challenge Donald Trump on policy issues in November’s election.

Sperling will be a senior economic adviser to Harris’ policy team. The shift was revealed by White House officials who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss personnel matters.

Sperling served both Bill Clinton and Barack Obama as director of the White House National Economic Council. President Joe Biden Biden tasked him with managing his $1.9 trillion pandemic aid package, a role in which Sperling implemented the temporary expansion of the child tax credit. He was also the White House liaison to the union and car companies during the auto strikes.

“Under Gene’s leadership, the American Rescue Plan has delivered economic relief to cities and counties across the country, protected millions of union pensions, made the largest-ever federal investment in public safety, and kept thousands of small businesses afloat,” Biden said in a statement obtained by The Associated Press.

Sperling first worked with Harris when she was California attorney general during his time in the Obama administration. He frequently consulted with her as an outside adviser when she was in the Senate. The two partnered during the Biden presidency on promoting the monthly payments for the child tax credit, among other policies.

The pandemic programs halved child poverty with tax credits that went to 40 million families and provided rental assistance to 8 million.

But Republican critics blame the pandemic aid for sparking higher inflation, an issue that has hounded the Biden administration as many voters say that groceries, housing and gasoline have become less affordable. Financial markets opened Monday with a selloff as a weaker than expected jobs report last week has raised concerns about the U.S. economy’s resilience.

The White House has maintained that the inflation was global in nature, with chief of staff Jeff Zients saying that the efforts coordinated by Sperling “produced the strongest economy in the world.”

North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper, a Democrat, described the work that Sperling spearheaded as “generational investments” and credited him working with states to get the programs right.

Josh Boak, The Associated Press