Posted on 05/22/2003 10:09:46 AM PDT by Brian S
May 22 — By Adam Entous
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Bush picked trusted adviser Joshua Bolten on Thursday to serve as White House budget director, a job that puts him at the center of a brewing election-year battle over record budget deficits.
Bolten, who was a deputy White House chief of staff, vowed to be "a tight-fisted custodian of the people's money" while advocating Bush's tax-and-spending priorities, which Democrats blame for turning record budget surpluses into record deficits.
His nomination as the director of the Office of Management and Budget must be approved by the Senate, which may prove difficult. Bush's choice for deputy budget director, Clay Johnson, has been held up for months by Sen. Robert Byrd of West Virginia, the top Democrat on the Senate Appropriations Committee.
Bolten will replace Mitch Daniels, who is stepping down in a few weeks to pursue a possible run for governor of Indiana.
Bush called Bolten one his "closest and most trusted advisers." Largely behind the scenes, Bolten helped craft the administration's tax-cutting agenda and was instrumental in last year's sweeping shake-up of Bush's economic team, according to Republican sources.
Bolten takes over the job at a time of record deficits, which the administration blames on the economic downturn, the jolt from the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, and wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Democrats blame Bush's tax cuts for deficits expected to eclipse a record of $290 billion in 1992, when Bush's father was in the White House.
Daniels, who held the job since January 2001, fought pitched battles with both Republicans and Democrats in the U.S. Congress over the administration's tax-and-spending plans.
Democratic congressional aides said the new budget director should expect more of the same in the run-up to next year's presidential election.
Bolten said he hoped to have a "good working relationship" with the Congress.
CHANGING OF THE GUARD
Bolten's appointment comes at a time of rapid personnel changes at the White House.
Christine Todd Whitman said on Wednesday she would resign as head of the Environmental Protection Agency. White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said this week he would leave his job this summer.
Other personnel changes are expected in the coming weeks as the White House gears up for the re-election campaign.
On the economic front, Daniels' departure follows the resignation earlier this year of Glenn Hubbard, chairman of the White House Council of Economic Advisers.
Late last year, Bush pushed out Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill, White House economic aide Lawrence Lindsey and Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Harvey Pitt.
Bolten, a former Goldman Sachs executive, served in former President George Bush's administration as general counsel to the U.S. Trade Representative and as deputy assistant to the president for legislative affairs.
He was international trade counsel to the U.S. Senate Finance Committee from 1985 to 1989 and has also worked for the legal office of the State Department.
Bolten received his undergraduate degree from Princeton University and his law degree from Stanford Law School.
Oh that's just wunnerful.
That's just what we need - another globalist dedicated to propping up the rest of the world by undermining our domestic economy.
Dubya sure is hellbent on shooting himself in the foot, isn't he?
Hey, don't go there. I'm a big fan of his entire catalog. For my money, nothing beats listening to him do "When A Man Loves A Woman".
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