WASHINGTON ? President Barack Obama is expected to name longtime Washington insider Jacob ?Jack? Lew today as his next treasury secretary, a pivotal post as negotiations commence over raising the nation's debt ceiling and staving off controversial scheduled cuts in federal spending.
Lew, the White House chief of staff and a former budget director for Obama and President Bill Clinton, would replace Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, the last remaining member of Obama's original economic team, who wants to step down.
The move fills out the top tier of Obama's administration for the coming second term as several members of the administration move on.
While Attorney General Eric Holder plans to remain, Obama has nominated Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., to replace Secretary of State Hillary Clinton; former Republican Sen. Chuck Hagel of Nebraska to replace Leon Panetta as secretary of defense; and counterterrorism adviser John Brennan to replace CIA Director David Petraeus, who resigned last year after admitting to an extramarital affair.
Obama also must fill other positions.
Labor Secretary Hilda Solis announced her resignation Wednesday. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lisa Jackson has resigned. And Lew's move opens the key job of White House chief of staff.
In Lew, Obama is seeking a secretary who lacks the luster of a Wall Street CEO or the gravitas of a renowned economic forecaster. But he would get a trusted confidant who has the president's ear and one with extensive experience in the federal budget, perhaps the most serious flashpoint now in the government with Obama engaged in repeated battles with the Republican majority House of Representatives over taxes and spending.
Lew, so far has not drawn any of the partisan fire that instantly greeted early reports of Obama's plans to nominate United Nations Ambassador Susan Rice to be secretary of state or Hagel to be secretary of defense. That could suggest he'd win relatively easy confirmation in the Senate, which earlier confirmed his appointment to the lower profile post of deputy secretary of state. Quick confirmation would put him in place in time for what are expected to be acrimonious months ahead.
Lew is a longtime Washington insider, working in the 1970s for legendary House Speaker Thomas P. ?Tip? O'Neill, and is a veteran of decades of budget negotiations.
He also served as deputy secretary of state for management and resources.
Lew also worked from 2006 to 2009 at Citigroup, working in wealth management and later heading an alternative investment division. He was there long enough to collect a controversial bonus as financial markets were near collapse.
When Lew was tapped to head the White House Office of Management and Budget, conservative groups criticized him for receiving a $900,000 bonus in 2009 at a time when taxpayer money was being used to help keep Citigroup afloat. Lew defended the payment, in a letter to Iowa Republican Sen. Charles Grassley, noting he was a management executive, not an investment adviser who speculated with client money.
Source: http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/article/Washington-insider-Jacob-Lew-widely-expected-as-4181437.php
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