Bush selects nominee for OMB director

President Bush today named Josh Bolten as his nominee for director of the Office of Management and Budget, moving another long-time adviser to the White House policy enforcement agency.

Bolten would replace Mitchell Daniels Jr., who announced his departure from OMB on May 6. Bolten presently is deputy chief of staff for policy and has been heavily involved in domestic and economic issues.

He has been a lead adviser for Bush since serving as policy director during his 2000 campaign. He also served in several White House positions during the George H.W. Bush administration, as international trade counsel on the Senate Finance Committee, and from 1994 to 1999 as executive director of legal and government affairs for Goldman Sachs International in London.

There has been much speculation about the replacement for Daniels, who not only faced off with Congress over budget issues, but also stood as a strong supporter of the President's Management Agenda and the E-Government Strategy.

Clay Johnson, another official who has been with Bush since his time in Texas, is still awaiting Senate confirmation to be deputy director for management at OMB, a position that holds direct control of the President's Management Agenda.

Bolten highlighted Daniels' efforts to strengthen the management side of OMB at the announcement of his nomination today, pointing out that "the right question is not, how much can we spend, but, how well? Are we using the taxpayers' money wisely?"