Obama to tap Wal-Mart exec as budget chief

Mon, 04 Mar 2013 13:50:00 +0000

President Obama has tapped Wal-Mart's Sylvia Mathews Burwell as his next budget chief, thrusting her into the center of Washington's heated partisan budget battles and is filling vacancies at the Energy Department and Environmental Protection Agency, an official says.

A White House official said Obama will announce Burwell's nomination to lead the Office of Management and Budget during a White House ceremony Monday morning, a White House official said. If confirmed by the Senate, Burwell would bring more diversity to Obama's second term Cabinet following criticism that many top jobs were going to white men.

Her nomination also signals that the White House is trying to get back to normal business after the president and Congress failed to avert the $85 billion in automatic spending cuts that started taking effect Friday. While the president has warned of dire consequences for the economy as a result of the cuts, the White House does not want the standoff with Congress to keep the president from focusing on other second term priorities, including filling out his Cabinet, as well as pursuing stricter gun laws and an overhaul of the nation's immigration system.

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Obama to tap Wal-Mart exec as budget chief