Bluey Blog - Official Blog of Robert B. Bluey

Bush’s New Budget Chief

I was invited to attend Jim Nussle’s swearing-in ceremony as the new director of the Office of Management and Budget today at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building. President Bush made a few remarks (here’s the video I shot and a few photos on Flickr) and Vice President Cheney conducted the official ceremony with Nussle’s family watching from the stage.

In his brief remarks, Nussle highlighted the importance of his family and friends back in Iowa. He recalled his education at Luther College and how thanks to one professor, Joan Thompson, he took a “strange interest in the federal budget process” and ended up serving as chairman of the House Budget Committee and now Bush’s budget chief.

Most importantly, Nussle used the opportunity to emphasize the importance of being a good steward with taxpayers’ money.

I believe government spending should be restrained, and I also believe it should be transparent, so that taxpayers could see what results they are getting for their money.

Nussle also made clear he wouldn’t focus solely on discretionary spending. He cited the brewing entitlement crisis as a serious issue that needs to be addressed.

There’s a much bigger challenge out there on the horizon with our nation’s long-term fiscal health, what many have referred to and what I would refer to as the unsustainable growth in Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid. We’ve got to tackle that. And Mr. President, as you’ve proposed reasonable and responsible reforms that I intend to push on your behalf, either for a dialogue with my former colleagues, but also to push for action, because we need it.

As someone who championed Nussle’s nomination from the start (here, here and here), it was a great experience to see the confirmation process from beginning to end. Now we can only hope Nussle brings Republicans and Democrats together to pass a budget that’s fiscally responsible and won’t raise taxes.