Halfway through his four-year term as director of the Congressional Budget Office, Douglas Holtz-Eakin stepped down from the position on Dec. 30 to take an economics position with the Council of Foreign Relations.
Holtz-Eakin will assume his new position as the Paul A. Volcker Fellow in International Economics and the director of the Maurice R. Greenberg Center for Geoeconomic Studies at the Council on Foreign Relations in Washington in early 2006.
Deputy Director Donald Marron, who joined the CBO in October 2005, will serve as acting director until Congress names a permanent successor.
"[The new position] represents an opportunity to continue the mission I have undertaken at CBO while being more proactive in bringing together the best economic and foreign policy ideas from around the world and aligning them with the policies in Washington," said Holtz-Eakin, in the November statement announcing his departure.
The CBO provides nonpartisan analysis of spending bills, budgets and fiscal trends, and acts independently of the White House.
Marron will be considered for the top slot. Prior to joining the CBO, Marron served as chief economist for the President's Council of Economic Advisers, where he analyzed a broad range of fiscal, regulatory, and macroeconomic policies and directed a team that monitored the state of the economy and developed economic forecasts.
