President-Elect Obama Adds Two Economic Advisers to Cabinet

President-elect Barack Obama added two figures to his economic cabinet, naming Peter Orszag as his White House budget director and Robert Nabors as Orszag's deputy, at a press conference on Tuesday.

Since January 2007, Orszag has been director of the Congressional Budget Office, overseeing a staff of 235 people. Formerly, he was an economic adviser to Bill Clinton. He is a graduate of Princeton.

Obama said Orszag has been a leading voice on government spending, and he re-energized the CBO as director.

Robert Nabors is a clerk and staff director of the House Appropriations Committee. Formerly, he worked in the Clinton administration as a senior adviser to the Office of Management and Budget.

The announcement follows Monday's press conference, when Obama made four appointments to his economic team, including New York Fed President Timothy Geithner as Treasury Secretary and former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers as head of the National Economic Council.

Monday also saw the appointment of University of California at Berkeley economist Christina Romer - a specialist in the Great Depression - as head of the White House Council of Economic Advisers.

Furthermore, Melody Barnes will be his director of the Domestic Policy Council. Barnes is the executive vice-president for policy at the Center for American Progress, a think tank founded in 2003 by John D. Podesta, former chief of staff to President Bill Clinton.

By Patrick McGee and edited by Stephen Huebl
©CEP News Ltd. 2008