Bush Names New Budget Director

President Bush announced that he has nominated U.S. Trade Representative Rob Portman as director of the Office of Management and Budget.

Subject to Senate approval, Portman will replace Joshua Bolten, who started his new job as the president's chief of staff Friday.

As director of the OMB, Portman would oversee a $2.8 trillion annual budget and a staff that reviews the federal government's spending -- including the costs of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, as well as major domestic reconstruction in the states hit by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.

Portman, 50, represented Ohio in the House of Representatives for a dozen years, before becoming the country's trade ambassador last year. In accepting Bush's nomination, Portman praised the president for cutting taxes in the face of a recession in 2001, and said that deficit reduction should focus on spending cuts, not tax increases. He also pledged to work with Congress to curtail the practice of earmarking bills -- where members insert special spending items into larger bills. His most noted legislation was a law that overhauled the Internal Revenue Service with the intent of establishing more taxpayer rights.

Portman worked at law firms in both Washington and Cincinnati in the 1980s, before serving as President George H.W. Bush's associate counsel and, later, as director of legislative affairs.Susan Schwab, Portman's deputy, will be nominated to take his cabinet-level position as trade ambassador. In announcing Portman's nomination, Bush didn't deny rumors that more staff shake-ups are to come. Next up could be Treasury Secretary John Snow, who has expressed an interest in stepping aside this year.

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