Obama nominates Clinton budget director to lead OMB
Jacob Lew oversaw a budget surplus during his tenure in the late 1990s.
President Obama has selected a familiar face to serve as the next director of the Office of Management and Budget.
Jacob Lew, who ran OMB during the Clinton administration from 1998 to 2001, will return to the office in August as he takes over for outgoing budget chief Peter Orszag, the White House announced on Tuesday.
Known in political and government circles as practical and intellectual, Lew currently serves as deputy secretary for management and resources and chief operating officer of the State Department. The Senate confirmed him for the post in January 2009.
"The experience and good judgment Jack has acquired throughout his impressive career in the public and private sector will be an extraordinary asset to this administration's efforts to cut down the deficit and put our nation back on a fiscally responsible path," Obama said in a statement.
The president cited Lew's past work on deficit reduction as a key factor in his nomination. As budget director, Lew left the incoming Bush administration with a $237 billion surplus. The U.S. debt will top $13 trillion this year and will climb to nearly $20 trillion by 2015, according to a June Treasury Department report to Congress.
"The problems are deeper and the politics are different [now]," said Jonathan Breul, executive director of the IBM Center for The Business of Government and a colleague of Lew during the latter years of the Clinton administration. "But, he is perfect for the job."
Sally Katzen, who worked with Lew for eight years during the Clinton administration, including nearly two years as his deputy director at OMB, is confident that her former boss is the right man for the job.
"He is experienced and capable and served in one of the most demanding jobs in government, all the while keeping his cool and being the nicest person to work for," said Katzen, who now serves as a senior adviser at the Podesta Group, a Washington-based government relations and public affairs firm. "If anyone can tackle the multiple, conflicting challenges, he can."
In a statement issued Tuesday, Orszag said, "I have known Jack Lew for more than a decade, have worked with him under two presidents, and value his counsel and friendship. ... With his experience, mastery of the budget process, and passion for public service, Jack Lew is an individual especially qualified to serve the president and the American people during these challenging economic times." A graduate of Harvard and Georgetown Universities, Lew began his career in 1973 as a Capitol Hill legislative aide and eventually rose to become a top adviser to former House Speaker Thomas P. "Tip" O'Neill. After a five-year stint with a Washington law firm, he joined the Clinton administration as a special assistant to the President Clinton. During a two-year span, he helped develop the AmeriCorps national service program and Clinton's health care reform proposal. He later rose through the ranks at OMB.