THE DAILY FED
Cabinet Shakeup Coming
Several top administration officials appear to be leaving Washington, while others may stay but would take new positions, White House officials predict.
White House Chief of Staff Leon Panetta is getting ready to leave. Several names are floating around as possible replacements for Panetta, including Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin, deputy chief of staff Harold Ickes and former Senate Majority Leader George Mitchell. The candidate that has emerged as the front runner, however, is former deputy chief of staff Erskine Bowles. Clinton may announce Bowles' appointment by the end of the week.
Recent predictions say senior advisor George Stephanopoulos will stay on another year.
Secretary of State Warren Christopher and Defense Secretary William Perry have announced their resignations. National Security Advisor Anthony Lake is also expected to step down. United Nations Ambassador Madeleine Albright and retiring Sen. Sam Nunn are contenders to replace Christopher at State. CIA Director John Deutch is often talked about as a replacement for Perry. If Lake leaves, many expect Clinton's close friend Strobe Talbott to take his spot.
Commerce Secretary Kantor, who has been bored in his position, will likely return to private life. Possible replacements for Kantor at Commerce include presidential counselor Thomas F. "Mack" McLarty and Laura D'Andrea Tyson, head of the president's National Economic Council. Tyson may return to academia, though she may be enticed to stay in Washington with an offer to head Commerce or Labor, should Labor Secretary Robert Reich resign.
Energy's Hazel O'Leary, Transportation's Federico Pena, and Interior's Bruce Babbitt, who have all had a rocky 1996, could also move out of their positions in the second Clinton Administration. HUD Secretary Henry Cisneros is also expected to leave. But HHS Secretary Donna Shalala, the Environmental Protection Agency's Carol Browner, and Education Secretary Richard Riley seem to be secure in their posts.
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