OMB nominee sails through questioning

Brian Deese, slated to serve as deputy director on the budget side of the Office of Management and Budget, faced a friendly confirmation hearing, with no Republican members of the Senate Homeland Security and Oversight Committee on hand to ask tough questions.

Deese, 35, has served the Obama administration in a variety of economic policy roles, most notably as a leader on the government task force that restructured and revived U.S. automakers General Motors and Chrysler. If confirmed, Deese will replace Heather Higginbottom, who left OMB to take a senior post in the State Department in February.

The hearing mostly focused on high level taxation and budget reform issues, but Deese indicated an interest in issues of government efficiency such as improper payments and improving the management of the federal real estate portfolio that are near and dear to Committee chairman Sen. Tom Carper (D-Del.)

The OMB leadership for President Obama's second term is starting to take shape, with the recent confirmation of director Sylvia Mathews Burwell, the nomination of Deese to head the budget side, and the nomination of Georgetown law professor Howard Shelanski to head the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs. The president has yet to name a replacement for Jeffrey Zients, who recently resigned as acting director and head of the management side of OMB.