Bruce Reed (political operative)

Bruce Reed (born March 16, 1960) is the former president of the Broad Foundation.[1] Prior to assuming that role in December 2013, he served as Chief of Staff to U.S. Vice President Joe Biden and is a former CEO of the Democratic Leadership Council (DLC).

Bruce Reed
Chief of Staff to the Vice President
In office
January 14, 2011 – December 2013
Vice PresidentJoe Biden
Preceded byRon Klain
Succeeded bySteve Ricchetti
Director of the Domestic Policy Council
In office
December 20, 1996 – January 20, 2001
PresidentBill Clinton
Preceded byCarol Rasco
Succeeded byJohn Bridgeland
Personal details
Born (1960-03-16) March 16, 1960
Boise, Idaho, U.S.
Political partyDemocratic
EducationPrinceton University (A.B.)
Lincoln College, Oxford (M.Phil.)

Early life and education

Reed is a native of Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, and the son of Idaho State Senator Mary Lou Reed and Scott Reed, prominent environmental attorney. He attended Princeton University and graduated with an A.B. in English in 1982 after completing a 92-page long senior thesis titled "Dickens, Decency, and Discontent: George Orwell and the Literature of Generous Anger."[2] He then earned a master's degree in English Literature from Oxford University as a Rhodes Scholar.

Career

Reed served as chief speechwriter for Tennessee Senator Al Gore from 1985 to 1989. He was founding editor of the DLC magazine, The New Democrat and served as policy director of the DLC from 1990 to 1991 under DLC Chairman and Governor of Arkansas Bill Clinton. In 1992, he was deputy campaign manager for policy of the Clinton-Gore presidential campaign. During the Clinton presidency, Reed served as chief domestic policy advisor and director of the Domestic Policy Council. Reed oversaw the administration's criminal justice policy, and worked closely with Joe Biden to pass "tough-on-crime" legislation including the 1994 Crime Bill.[3][4] Reed also helped to write the 1996 welfare reform law known as the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Act. He is credited with coining the welfare reform catchphrase, "end welfare as we know it." [5]

In 2006, Reed published his book The Plan: Big Ideas for America, co-written by Rahm Emmanuel. A Foreign Affairs review of the book notes "the most important big idea in the book is that Democrats should stop defending the New Deal and instead concentrate on recasting it for a more mobile society".[6]

Reed is the author of the taunt, "change you can Xerox," from the February 21, 2008 presidential primary debate in Austin, Texas. Reed supplied Senator Hillary Clinton with the phrase to invoke accusations of plagiarism against rival Senator Barack Obama while parodying his campaign slogan: "Change you can believe in."[7]

In the spring of 2010, Reed took a leave of absence from the DLC to become Executive Director of President National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform (Simpson-Bowles Commission), the commission tasked with finding a path to a balanced budget during the Great Recession. As Executive Director, Reed allowed senior staff members of the Simpson-Bowles Commission to be paid by Blackstone founder Pete Peterson.[8] The Simpson-Bowles Commission notably proposed cuts to Social Security and Medicare.[9]

On January 14, 2011 he was named Chief of Staff to Vice President Joe Biden, succeeding Ron Klain.[10] In November 2013 it was announced that he would step down as the Vice President's Chief of Staff to become president of the Broad Foundation.[11]

Works
  • Rahm Emanuel and Bruce Reed, The Plan: Big Ideas for America, PublicAffairs Books of Perseus Books Group, August 2006, ISBN 1-58648-412-5.

References
  1. Mary Plummer (November 13, 2013). "Broad Foundation names Bruce Reed – Vice-President Joe Biden's chief of staff – its new president". KPCC. Retrieved November 13, 2013.
  2. Reed, Bruce Nelson (1982). "Dickens, Decency, and Discontent: George Orwell and the Literature of Generous Anger". Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  3. "Bruce Reed". clintonwhitehouse5.archives.gov. Retrieved 2020-05-22.
  4. "Vice President Biden Announces Bruce Reed as New Chief of Staff". whitehouse.gov. 2011-01-14. Retrieved 2020-05-22.
  5. Carney, James; Tumulty, Karen (October 30, 2000). "How They Run The Show". CNN. Retrieved April 27, 2010.
  6. "The Plan: Big Ideas for America". 2009-01-28. ISSN 0015-7120. Retrieved 2020-05-22.
  7. Baker, Peter; Kornblut, Anne E. (March 5, 2008). "Even in Victory, Clinton Team Is Battling Itself". Washington Post. pp. A01.
  8. Eggan, Dan (November 10, 2010). "Many deficit commission staffers paid by outside groups". Washington Post.
  9. Grim, Ryan; Fang, Lee (2020-01-25). "Joe Biden Lied About His Record on Social Security". The Intercept. Retrieved 2020-05-22.
  10. VP Biden Names Bruce Reed as New Chief of Staff Jake Tapper, Washington Post, January 14, 2011
  11. "Vice President Biden Announces New Chief of Staff". Retrieved 11 March 2014.
Political offices
Preceded by
Carol Rasco		 Director of the Domestic Policy Council
1996–2001		 Succeeded by
John Bridgeland
Preceded by
Ron Klain		 Chief of Staff to the Vice President
2011–2013		 Succeeded by
Steve Ricchetti
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.