CQ TODAY ONLINE NEWS – EXECUTIVE BRANCH
Updated Jan. 9, 2012 – 7:36 p.m.
Lew’s Move Creates OMB Vacancy Ahead of Budget Battles
By Paul M. Krawzak and Ben Weyl, CQ Staff Writers
Budget director Jacob Lew’s appointment to be White House chief of staff will leave vacant one of the administration’s most important positions as President Obama faces tough negotiations with Congress over extending tax cuts and enacting spending bills.
Obama announced Monday afternoon that his chief of staff, William Daley, was resigning and that Lew will take his place.
Experts on the budget process predicted that the change will have little impact on the president’s fiscal 2013 budget proposal, which is almost complete. Lew is not slated to step down as Office of Management and Budget director until the end of the month and will finish the budget before his departure, said OMB Communications Director Kenneth Baer.
“The process has been under way for some time. Most of the work has been done already,” said former Rep. Bill Frenzel, R-Minn., now a budget expert at the Brookings Institution.
Although the budget is traditionally released on the first Monday in February, OMB has not confirmed whether it will make that deadline this year.
Analysts said the larger challenge will be to nominate an OMB director who is familiar with the budget and Congress and is capable of quickly taking control of the office in a tough political environment.
Budget experts from both parties identified Rob Nabors, the assistant to the president for legislative affairs, as a likely pick for the job. Nabors previously served as deputy director of OMB, and he also served as staff director of the House Appropriations Committee under now-retired Rep. David R. Obey, D-Wis.
“This is going to be a very, very tough budget year, and most of the real decisions will probably be delayed until the lame-duck session,” said G. William Hoagland, vice president for federal policy at Cigna and a former top GOP budget aide. “So you need somebody to be a placeholder to keep the office functioning and do the day-to-day administrative requirements of the running the budget.”
A former Democratic congressional aide said Nabors knows the budget, has a good relationship with the president, is familiar with Congress and has been involved in recent budget negotiations.
Political Experience
In the current highly partisan environment, political capability also will be part of the deal. “The most important attribute for a new budget director is that they be a politically smart and tough player,” said Isabel V. Sawhill, a Brookings Institution scholar who served as associate budget director under President Bill Clinton.
Lew’s ascension to the chief of staff position was welcomed by both Democrats and Republicans, though some in the GOP said they expect him to be more partisan than Daley and less supportive of business interests.
“While we’ve had our spirited differences on policy, I’ve enjoyed getting to work with Jack during his tenure as the director of OMB,” said House Budget Chairman
Lew’s Move Creates OMB Vacancy Ahead of Budget Battles
Though they issued public statements praising Daley, some lawmakers may be privately cheering his departure. Daley was brought in, in part, because of his good relations with Republicans, but his bipartisan bona fides never resulted in any legislative benefits. Democrats also complained that Daley ignored them during last summer’s battle over raising the debt ceiling.
Lew has been on good terms with lawmakers of both parties, stretching back to his tenure in the Clinton administration. Lew also served for years as an aide to former House Speaker Thomas P. O’Neill Jr., D-Mass., something that congressional Democrats have highlighted.
House Minority Leader
As OMB director, Lew was noted for making occasional visits to lawmakers on Capitol Hill and kept close ties to Nabors, Obama’s chief congressional lobbyist and a former OMB deputy director under Lew. The collaboration with Nabors dates to the 1990s, when Nabors was a special assistant to Lew, who briefly served as budget director to Clinton.
Rep.
Lew is noted for his role in budget deals under Clinton and in the 1983 Social Security overhaul (PL 98-21). “Few people in Washington have Jack’s level of experience and knowledge,” said Senate Budget Chairman
Confirmation Process
Robert Bixby, executive director of the Concord Coalition, a non-profit budget watchdog group, said Obama is likely to tap as OMB director someone recently confirmed by Congress. That’s because, he said, Republicans are likely to slow the confirmation of any untested nominee because of the recent flap over recess appointments.
Despite the fact that a number of Obama nominees have been blocked from confirmation in the Senate, Frenzel said he did not expect a bitter fight over Lew’s replacement. “That’s not the kind of job that typically the Senate is willing to go to war over,” Frenzel said. “That has always been thought of as the president’s choice.”
The White House may find that having both a budget-savvy chief of staff and a skilled OMB director could prove useful during negotiations with Congress, Frenzel added.
“I can remember in the good old days of the 1990 Budget Enforcement Act that the president had two very strong budgeters in his chief of staff, John Sununu, and his OMB director, Dick Darman,” he said. “The idea of having two people who were very conversant in the budget, who knew what the president wanted, was a great advantage at the time.”
The Senate confirmed Lew as OMB director in November 2010 by voice vote with strong Republican support.
Lew’s Move Creates OMB Vacancy Ahead of Budget Battles
However, Obama made recess appointments last week to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and the National Labor Relations Board that outraged Republicans. Senate Minority Leader
Even if Senate Republicans do not block Obama’s nominee, they are sure to use the opportunity to hammer the president’s fiscal policies. GOP lawmakers assailed reports Monday that the federal government’s debt was equal to the national economy.
Alan K. Ota contributed to this story.
First posted Jan. 9, 2012 5:33 p.m.