(JNS) Among the nominations U.S. President Joe Biden sent to the Senate on March 2 was that Jared Bernstein, currently a member of the Council of Economic Advisors, chair the council. That body is part of the executive branch. Bernstein served as chief economic adviser for Biden from 2009 to 2011 when Biden was vice president.

A Virginian, Bernstein holds a doctorate in social welfare from Columbia University, according to his blog, in which he wrote once about being Jewish. “I very rarely stray from my political econo-lane here,” he wrote, about the white-supremacist “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville, Va. “I’m also Jewish. So the evil that took place there over the weekend is personal and I cannot in good conscience not respond.”In November 2020, Bernstein tweeted that he was “verklempt” when Biden appointed him to be a council member. No word from him yet on Twitter whether he will plotz following the nomination to be chair.