Washington Post hires Werner as economic policy reporter

Washington Post national economy and business editor David Cho and deputy business editor Zachary Goldfarb sent out the following announcement on Tuesday:

We’re very excited to announce that Erica Werner will join The Washington Post as our new congressional economic policy correspondent.

Erica is chief congressional correspondent of the Associated Press, and her hiring is part of an expanding commitment to covering the most important economic policy stories unfolding in Washington and the ways they affect voters and companies.

Erica will cover fiscal and economic policy on Capitol Hill, including tax policy, spending, and the never-ending battles over funding the $4 trillion – and growing — annual budget of the federal government. She will write about entitlements, the debt and deficit, the shape and size and government, and how lawmakers – and the people, companies and interest groups that influence them – wield power.

Erica has spent the last 17 years at the AP and has distinguished herself as one of the top reporters on Congress. She proved tough competition covering the health policy and immigration debates, among other topics. She also spent two years as a White House reporter and more than five years as a regional reporter covering the California and Nevada congressional delegations.

Earlier in her career,  she worked in Los Angeles as an AP political and general assignment reporter. She began her career at the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette in Little Rock, where she served as city hall reporter.

Erica graduated with a degree in romance languages and literature from Harvard.  She lives in the District with her husband and two daughters.

Erica will start Nov. 20. Please welcome her to The Post.