Jacob Lew to Move from State to Office of Management and Budget

For all the wonks out there: President Obama said today that he plans to nominate Jacob Lew, the deputy secretary of state for management and resources, to become director of the Office of Management and Budget. Peter Orszag, the current head of OMB, is leaving for the Council on More…

For Senate Advocates of Unemployment Insurance Extension, a Battle to Nowhere

On Wednesday night, a bare-bones measure to keep federally funded unemployment insurance checks headed to the long-term unemployed failed in the Senate. Moderate Republican Sens. Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins of Maine had signed on to vote for cloture on the $34 billion bill. But without Sen. Robert Byrd (D-W.Va.), More…

With Orszag Resigning, White House Should Gear Up for a ‘Brutal’ Confirmation Fight

Peter Orszag, director of the White House Office of Management and Budget, will leave the Obama administration in July, making him the first cabinet-level official to resign. According to The New York Times, Orszag never planned to stay more than two years, and his resignation puts him in More…

The Text of Lieberman’s ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ Repeal

I didn’t have it when I put my piece to bed last night, but here it is. It’s short and straightforward. Repeal only takes effect after the Pentagon working group on implementing a “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” repeal delivers its recommendations in December and the president, the secretary of More…

Congressional Earmarks Decline Sharply

Peter Orszag, director of the Office of Management and Budget, reports on his blog that earmarks have declined sharply, down 17 percent in volume and 27 percent in dollar value between 2009 and 2010:

Rewriting History on That Deficit Task Force

Here’s how history gets rewritten: Last week, the Senate killed legislation to create a bipartisan panel designed to tackle the country’s skyrocketing debt. President Obama endorsed it — as did many conservative Republicans — but it failed after six GOP co-sponsors and Senate Minority More…

Conservatives See Long-Term ‘Gift’ in Obama Spending Freeze

On December 9, House Republicans did what they’d done multiple times throughout 2009. They released an open letter to President Obama, laying out their ideas for a “No-Cost Jobs Plan.” It included, among ideas like scaled-back energy regulation and a temporary tax break for corporations repatriating More…

White House Issues Transparency Directive and Progress Report

Following up on President Obama’s Transparency Memoranda signed on his first day in office, the White House today issued two new documents pledging openness: An “open government directive” instructing the heads of federal departments and agencies to take specific actions to open their operations to More…

The Cost of War, Now With the Accountant of War

Apropos of my query why Peter Orszag, the chief of the White House Office of Management and Budget, wasn’t in yesterday’s all-hands Afghanistan strategy session, Josh Gerstein at Politico has a great catch:

Spotted in the official White House photo of Monday night’s war council meeting on

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Bachmann Perpetuates Boehner’s Refuted $3000 Light-Switch Tax Myth

Last week, MIT professor John Reilly called out Rep. John Boehner (R-Ohio) for intentionally misrepresenting Reilly’s cap-and-trade study to claim that President Obama’s emissions reduction scheme would cost American families more than $3,000 a year. “It’s just wrong,” Reilly told the St. Petersburg Times in reference to Boehner’s More…