Obama Names Budget Director; Pledges To End Wasteful Spending

November 25, 2008 2:01 p.m. EST

Chicago, IL (AHN) - Holding his second press conference on the economy in two days, President-elect Barack Obama focused his remarks on Tuesday to the growing federal deficit, saying budget reform is not an option but an imperative and naming Congressional Budget Office director Peter Orszag as head of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB).

In a press conference at the Hilton in Chicago, Obama said, "In these challenging times, when we are facing both rising deficits and a sinking economy, budget reform is not an option. It is an imperative. We cannot sustain a system that bleeds billions of taxpayer dollars on programs that have outlived their usefulness, or exist solely because of the power of a politician, lobbyist, or interest group. We simply cannot afford it."

"We will go through our federal budget - page by page, line by line - eliminating those programs we don't need, and insisting that those we do operate in a sensible cost-effective way... The old ways of Washington simply can't meet the challenges of today and tomorrow," he added.

The president-elect appointed Orszag to lead the reform in the federal budget, saying the 39-year old "will bring to his work... a set of priorities that I - and the American people - share." Obama also named Rob Nabors, currently staff director of the House Appropriations Committee, as deputy director of the OMB.

Orszag, who was appointed as head of the Congressional Budget Office in January 2007, served in the Clinton administration as special assistant to the president for economic policy, and as senior economist and senior adviser on the Council of Economic Advisers. He founded the Hamilton Project along with former Clinton Treasury Sec. Robert Rubin while serving as director at Brookings Institution, one of Washington's oldest think tanks.

The president-elect cited healthcare costs as one of the biggest challenges in reforming the nation's spending. He also emphasized that the appointments to his economic team, six so far including the four he made on Monday, do not represent the all of his administration's future efforts to fix the economy.

"These appointees will work with those I have yet to announce - including the secretaries of Energy and Labor, Commerce and Health and Human Services and others in my administration - to design a recovery plan for both Wall Street and Main Street, and to put our economy on a path to long-term growth and prosperity," he said.

Obama, who said last week he plans to create 2.5 million more jobs by 2011, is working with Democratic leaders for a second economic stimulus package that reports say could cost as much as the $700 billion financial bailout approved by Congress in October.

New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, who served as Energy secretary during the Clinton administration, is reportedly the frontrunner for the post of Commerce secretary. Former Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle, meanwhile, is said to be the top contender as secretary of Health and Human Services.