Peter Orszag To Step Down As White House Budget Director

WASHINGTON — White House Budget Director Peter Orszag plans to resign, a Democratic official said Monday night, positioning him to be the first high-profile member of President Barack Obama's team to depart the administration.

Orszag is expected to leave in the coming months. The exact timing is not known.

As director of the Office of Management and Budget, Orszag holds Cabinet-level rank and a pivotal role in shaping and defending how the administration spends the public's money. He quickly emerged from a bureaucratic post to become a camera-friendly face of Obama's government, often in front on plans to confront the deficit and to spur the economy.

The official confirmed the news to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because it had not been announced.

Orszag's spokesman, Kenneth Baer, said only: "Peter's focused on his work, not on Washington speculation."

That speculation has for weeks held that Orszag would leave this year after a grueling, nonstop sprint as the head of the budget agency and a key adviser to Obama. During his tenure, Congress has passed the most expensive economic stimulus program in U.S. history and a massive health care reform law. Orszag has overseen Obama's first two budgets, too.

Orszag, 41, came to Obama's government from the position of director of the Congressional Budget Office, the agency charged with providing nonpartisan analyses of economic issues to lawmakers. He served during Bill Clinton's administration as an assistant to the president for economic policy and a senior adviser at the National Economic Council.

The move comes as Obama continues to face the steep economic challenges of reining in the deficit and rallying support for more stimulative spending. The economic recovery is plodding along but unemployment remains near 10 percent.

Comments

[RMorr2002]

08:18 AM on 06/23/2010

What do we need a Budget Director for? The Dems in Congress have no intention of passing a budget!

[FREEDOM BELL]

10:47 PM on 06/22/2010

President Obama should fire all the Clinton people. Instead, there are rumors that Biden and Hillary will trade jobs after the 2010 elections. Not a good idea. Wouldn't be surprised if they'd talk Obama out of running in 2012 so Hillary could run.

It already looks like Obama is not in charge.

Biden is one of the few good people in the Obama Administration.

I hope Obama fires all the Clinton people (and Bush people, too, for that matter) and goes on to become a great president.

[rebelriser]

12:33 AM on 06/23/2010

I agree. The Clinton & Bush people are the problem for this administration in their views one being that Social Security should be privatized. I say "good riddance" to these people and getting rid of them would get us to a beginning where we should have been in the beginning of this administration.

[Heschel]

08:52 PM on 06/22/2010

After reading about the more conservative spending efforts of both Gernmany and England, I have noticed that the Labour party's leader, Harriet Harman, and our own President Barack Obama disagree with governmental cutbacks. I wonder how our Government wants to keep the Banks held accountable but not itself concerning spending procedures which are threatening to hurl us further into debt burdens for a future generation and its President to have to wrestle? Maybe following the lead of our Euro neighbors, in some respect, is not such a bad idea after all. Also, I would be very iinterested in hearing what Mr. Orszag has to say about it all. The restructuring of the Global Banking/Finacial System is causing us all to reevaluate and reprioritize how we utilize money in the public and private sectors. Quite frankly, the reality of it all is that many of us who are the children of the "Age of Greed" during the 80's and 90's are going to be most challenged by the neccessary sacrifices needed to recover from our current monentary crisis. I mean, really, do the toilets have to be gold guilded?

[charleshugh]

08:40 PM on 06/22/2010

I am surprised to hear that Obama actually has a budget director.

[Janine547]

07:11 PM on 06/22/2010

You gotta know when to hold'em, know when to fold'em.... know when to walk away and know when to RUN !

[Bayard Waterbury]

06:13 PM on 06/22/2010

I will grieve his loss, if he actually leaves. He's one of the very few in the Adminstration that I felt was sincere and trustworthy. The only others, as it stands for me, are Christine Romer (who is a bit to mealy mouthed and too sweet) and Volker, who has been consistently elbowed out by Geithner and Summers and their Wall Street cheerleading squad.

[Matthew Blaine]

05:53 PM on 06/22/2010

Heckuva job Orszag. hey huffpo, how come no stories about the majority party saying they won't submit a budget?

[LC]

05:49 PM on 06/22/2010

Crying shame. Orszag is, quite simply, brilliant.

I've watched a lot of Congressional hearings on C-SPAN these past two years and nobody, but nobody, comes even close to Orszag. He knows his stuff, he's never defensive, he engages with his questioners with what can only be described as gusto. And, most of the time, he manages to make his points without making obvious the shortcomings of the committee members (many of whom, I fear, probably can't balance a check book let alone read a balance sheet or understand the details of the budget).

The Administration won't be able to find anybody with that combination of knowledge & presentation skills.

And, much as I admire Krugman, he isn't cut out for the kind of administrative duties the job entails. Nor do I think he has the personality required to sell an Administration budget to Congress.

[rebelriser]

12:37 AM on 06/23/2010

I've heard that Orszag is part of the problem and he is a leftover from Clinton who wanted to privatize Social Security.

[kinogod]

05:34 PM on 06/22/2010

Krugman Warren Reich Krugman Warren Reich Krugman Warren Reich Krugman Warren Reich Krugman Warren Reich Krugman Warren Reich!!!

[Siebenstein]

05:05 AM on 06/27/2010

Agreed, but they are too harsh on the banks and oil companies, etc.. Thus, they will never, ever get a position like this one. EVER !!!!!!!!

Only flawd personalities (with very few exceptions) want to achieve high political power.

[Needawinner]

05:30 PM on 06/22/2010

Krugman is disqualified from working for Obama-----He is not a former stooge of Goldman Sachs.

[lboucher]

05:19 PM on 06/22/2010

Without a budget--who needs a Budget Director!!

[KDog76A]

05:33 PM on 06/22/2010

bwaaa! TRUE. I'd quit too seeing this trainwreck coming in the months ahead.

[scorpioleidy]

04:54 PM on 06/22/2010

What's not mentioned is that Mr. Orszag is getting married this fall, yet this article implies he's having a problem with the Obama administration.

Real nice "reporting" yet again from HP.

[KDog76A]

05:37 PM on 06/22/2010

maybe if you understood that cCongress doesn't even have a BUDGET, and are spending money like a four year old with a credit card in a candy store... Yeah, Im sure he's leaving just because he's getting married... Good ole Steny Hoyer came out today saying the government is going to have to raise everybody's taxes to maintain the spending. THE COUNTRY IS A FINANCIAL TRAINWRECK and is likely unfixable, almomst anybody in that job would jump ship if they felt they could do nothing to change the situation.

Go ahead, live in the dreamworld...nice job glossing over the fact the government is broke and still spending like they won the lottery.

[Democrat in the South]

12:08 AM on 06/23/2010

How did you come up with that? A problem with Obama admin.?

[serindipity803]

04:38 PM on 06/22/2010

Who keeps fanning this fire? First it has to be announced by a REAL person with a NAME in the White House. This writer Feller could as easily have been talking to a janitor in the White House OR his friend of a friend of a friend!!! Cover the oil mess!

[KDog76A]

05:41 PM on 06/22/2010

sorry, but janitors aren't Democratic Officials, Feller had to at least talk to somebody who works for the Democratic Party, and not just a phone jockey (they aren't Officials either, you have to have a title, thats what Official means)

Why would somebody covering the White House write about the oil mess when the White House isn't doing anything about it today? THey are too busy suing Arizona and appealing the oil moratorium to deal with the mess in the Gulf.

[Democrat in the South]

12:13 AM on 06/23/2010

And how do you know they aren't doing anything about it? Do you know something everyone else doesn't know? You just said they are busy appealing the OIL moratorium. That's doing SOMETHING.;-)

[flossophy]

04:30 PM on 06/22/2010

I think his appearance on Charlie Rose (last November 3rd) sealed his fate.

He was on the same broadcast with Niall Ferguson... who made Orszaggles look like a college intern.

[socrate johnson]

04:06 PM on 06/22/2010

Yeah, just what this administartion needs is another person who believes his own press clippings.