Posted on 04/18/2006 7:07:07 AM PDT by NormsRevenge
WASHINGTON - President Bush on Tuesday nominated Trade Representative Rob Portman (news, bio, voting record) as the White House budget director, turning to a Washington insider and longtime friend as part of an effort to re-energize the administration and boost the president's record-low approval ratings.
Bush said more changes are in the works under his new chief of staff, Joshua Bolten.
"With a new man will come some changes," the president said. But he emphasized anew that Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld's job is safe, despite calls for his resignation from a half dozen retired military commanders.
"I hear the voices and I read the front page and I know the speculation," the president told reporters in the Rose Garden. "But I'm the decider and I decide what's best. And what's best is for Don Rumsfeld to remain as the secretary of defense."
Bush also selected Susan Schwab, the deputy trade representative, to move up to the top job, replacing Portman.
If confirmed by the Senate, Portman will succeed Joshua Bolten, who stepped down as director of the Office of Management and Budget to become White House chief of staff.
Bush said Portman would play a leading role on his economic team and consult frequently with Congress.
"He will be a powerful voice for pro-growth policies and spending restraint," the president said at a ceremony in the Rose Garden. "Rob's a man of deep integrity. He knows the priorities of my administration. He can get things done, and the Senate should confirm him promptly as director of the Office of Management and Budget."
Accepting the nomination, Portman said, "It's a big job. The Office of Management and Budget touches every spending and policy decision in the federal government."
A former congressman from Ohio, Portman said he will pursue the same policies he espoused as a lawmaker, to cut the federal deficit and make government more responsive to taxpayers. "The common sense, fiscally conservative values of southwest Ohio guided me then and they guide me now. If confirmed I'll be able to advance these same issues but now from the other end of Pennsylvania Avenue."
In another personnel change, Jim Towey, head of the White House office of faith-based and community initiatives, resigned to become president of St. Vincent College in Pennsylvania. White House press secretary Scott McClellan said Towey's departure was not related to any White House shake-up.
Tuesday's appointments were the first major personnel changes since Bolten took over and said he wanted to re-energize and recharge Bush's troubled presidency. With the Iraq war in its fourth year, Bush's poll ratings are at their lowest point ever and Republicans are anxious about the November elections.
Bolten, at his first senior staff meeting on Monday, pointed toward more personnel changes. He said that staffers who were thinking about leaving before the end of the year should go now.
Portman is a confidant of Bush's and has broad experience in Washington.
As a member of the tax-writing House Ways and Means Committee and as vice chairman of the Budget Committee, Portman forged bipartisan coalitions on legislation dealing with tax, trade and pension reform policy.
It was just a year ago that Bush tapped Portman, a Republican congressman from Ohio, to succeed Robert Zoellick as his top trade negotiator.
Portman had served in the House since winning a special election in 1993. He was highly regarded for his skills in forging compromises between Republicans and Democrats, traits that he will be able to use in his new job as budget director.
Portman won praise during his brief time in the trade job for his role in winning passage of the Central American Free Trade Agreement with six Latin American nations.
The pact was vigorously opposed by Democrats, who argued that it would open American workers to more unfair competition from low-wage nations. Portman, however, overcame that opposition by convincing enough waivering Republicans to support the agreement.
Portman pledged during his confirmation hearings last year to take a tougher line with China and in February his office produced a top-to-bottom review of U.S. relations with China which the administration is expected to use to push for more trade concessions when Bush meets with Chinese President Hu Jintao on Thursday at the White House.
President Bush announces in the Rose Garden at the White House, Tuesday, April 18, 2006, that he has decided to name his Trade Representative Rob Portman, left, as the new White House budget director, moving quickly to fill a vacancy created by a personnel reshuffling. (AP Photo/Ron Edmonds)
Rob is fantastic. Good choice. He was a great and dependable representative.
Well, she's pretty, but can she control the spending???
Bush and Portman wouldn't know spending restraint if it bit them in the.....
U.S. President George W. Bush answers a question about U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld while announcing his choice of Rob Portman (L) for the new Director of Office of Management and Budget (OMB) in the Rose Garden of the White House in Washington April 18, 2006. Bush on Tuesday nominated U.S. Trade Representative Rob Portman as his choice to become White House budget director as part of a shake-up of his team. REUTERS/Larry Downing
President Bush walks down the Colonnade to the Rose Garden to introduce U.S. Trade Representative Rob Portman as his nominee for Director of the Office of Management and Budget in the Rose Garden of the White House in Washington Tuesday April 18, 2006. With them is Susan Schwab, newly appointed U.S. Trade Representative. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)
I apologize in advance for this very shallow post: loved this picture of two good-looking men. (And, yes, before you ask, I'm a woman!)
"Well, she's pretty, but can she control the spending???"
I dunno, but she could control my spending, I guarantee. Lovely young woman, indeed.
"But he emphasized anew that Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld's job is safe, despite calls for his resignation from a half dozen retired military commanders."
Good news.
I'm glad I'm not the only one who had that impression when reading the headline.
Can always count on a FReeper to provide an appropriate pic. ;)
Sounds like a very good choice. Now if we could only get a supply-side Treasury secretary instead of the dispiriting procession of corporate wimps that the President, like his father, has nominated.
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