US: President Joe Biden appoints Indian-American Neera Tanden as domestic policy adviser

US President Joe Biden announced Friday that Indian-American Neera Tanden, who currently serves as Senior Adviser to President Biden and Staff Secretary, will serve as top domestic policy adviser, replacing Susan Rice.

In a statement, President Biden said, “For over two years, Susan Rice has helped craft and implement my domestic policy agenda and our country owes a debt of gratitude for her history-making public service. I am pleased to announce that Neera Tanden will continue to drive the formulation and implementation of my domestic policy, from economic mobility and racial equity to health care, immigration, and education."

Neera Tanden, Assistant to the President and Domestic Policy Adviser

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Neera Tanden served in both the Obama and Clinton administrations, as well as presidential campaigns and think tanks. Most recently, Neera was the President and CEO of the Center for American Progress and the Center for American Progress Action Fund.

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Tanden previously served as senior adviser for health reform at the Department of Health and Human Services, working on President Obama’s health reform team in the White House.

Prior to that, she was the director of domestic policy for the Obama-Biden presidential campaign, and served as policy director for the Hillary Clinton presidential campaign.

Neera served as senior adviser to the Chancellor of the New York City Schools and also served as Associate Director for Domestic Policy in the Clinton White House and Senior Policy Adviser to the First Lady. Neera received her Bachelor of Science from UCLA and her Juris Doctor degree from Yale Law School.

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Biden said Tanden was a key architect of the Affordable Care Act and helped drive key domestic policies that became part of his agenda, including clean energy subsidies and sensible gun reform. Neera relied on some of the critical programmes while growing up that she will oversee as Domestic Policy Adviser.

"I know those insights will serve my administration and the American people well. I look forward to continuing to work closely with Neera in her new role," Bidenadded.

Tanden will be the first Asian-American to lead any of the three major White House policy councils in history.

The President also announced that Stefanie Feldman will serve as Assistant to the President and Staff Secretary. Additionally, Zayn Siddique will be promoted to Principal Deputy of the Domestic Policy Council.

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"Stef is one of my longest-serving and most trusted advisers. I asked Stef to join me from the White House to the University of Delaware, to my presidential campaign, and back to the White House because of her talent and tenacious pursuit of policies that make life better for hard-working Americans. I have now asked her to serve as Staff Secretary because I know I can trust her to ensure that I am equipped with the best advice and counsel.”

Stefanie Feldman has worked for President Biden for more than a decade. She currently serves as Deputy Assistant to the President and Senior Adviser to the White House Domestic Policy Adviser.

Previously, she served as the National Policy Director for the Biden-Harris presidential campaign, the inaugural Policy Director for the Biden Institute at the University of Delaware’s Joseph R. Biden School of Public Policy & Administration, and in various policy roles in the White House Office of the Vice President during the Obama-Biden Administration.

She started her career as an intern in then-Vice President Biden’s domestic and economic policy office. She holds a B.A. from Duke University and a J.D. from Yale Law School.

Additionally, Zayn Siddique currently serves as Deputy Assistant to the President for Economic Mobility and Deputy Director of the Domestic Policy Council. In this role, he leads White House policy development on issues including housing, child care, education, workforce, and agriculture.

Previously, Siddique served as Senior Adviser to the White House Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy Bruce Reed. He also served as Chief of Staff for the Domestic and Economic Team for the Biden-Harris Transition and as a member of Vice President Harris’s prep team for the 2020 Vice-Presidential Debate.

Prior to the Administration, Siddique practiced constitutional and appellate law at a firm in New York City. He also served as a law clerk at all three levels of the federal court system, including to Justice Elena Kagan of the U.S. Supreme Court.

Originally from Bangladesh and raised in New York, Siddique is a graduate of Princeton University and Yale Law School.

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