Peter Orszag, Director, Office of Management & Budget
Peter Richard Orszag (born December 16, 1968) is an American economist who is currently the 37th Director of the Office of Management and Budget under President Barack Obama. He was, until recently, Director of the Congressional Budget Office.
Peter was born in Boston. After graduating from Phillips Exeter Academy with high honors (1987), he earned a B.A. summa cum laude in economics from Princeton University in 1991, and an M.Sc. (1992) and a Ph.D. (1997) in economics from the London School of Economics. He was a Marshall Scholar 1991-1992. He is a member of Phi Beta Kappa.[1]
Economists Alan Blinder (who taught him at Princeton) and Joseph Stiglitz were his mentors early in life, and later Robert Rubin.[2]
Orszag is Jewish, divorced, and lives in Washington, D.C. with his two children, Leila and Joshua. He runs marathons and enjoys country music. [3][2]
During his testimony before the House Budget Committee in March 2009 he said "there ain't no right way to do the wrong thing", which is a lyric from "Ain't No Right Way" off of Toby Keith's White Trash with Money. [1]
[edit] Career
Orszag was a senior fellow and Deputy Director of Economic Studies at the Brookings Institution, where he directed The Hamilton Project and (in conjunction with Georgetown University's Public Policy Institute) the Pew Charitable Trust's Retirement Security Project.
He served as Special Assistant to the President for Economic Policy (1997–1998), and as Senior Economist and Senior Adviser on the Council of Economic Advisers (1995–1996) during the Clinton administration. He also formed a consulting group called Sebago Associates, which merged into Competition Policy Associates and was bought by FTI Consulting Inc. He was a consultant for McKinsey and Company on an HMO project in San Francisco, California.
Orszag was director of the Congressional Budget Office from January 2007 to November 2008. During his tenure, he repeatedly drew attention to the role rising health care expenditures are likely to play in the government's long-term fiscal problems--and, by extension, the nation's long-term economic problems. "I have not viewed CBO's job as just to passively evaluate what Congress proposes, but rather to be an analytical resource. And part of that is to highlight things that are true and that people may not want to hear, including that we need to address health-care costs."[4] During his time at the CBO, he added 20 full-time health analysts (bringing the total number to 50), thereby strengthening the CBO's analytical capabilities and preparing Congress for health-care reform.[4]
[edit] Director of the Office of Management and Budget
Orszag (third from left) meeting with President Obama, Vice President Biden, and Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel.
On November 25th, 2008, President-elect Barack Obama announced that Orszag would be his nominee for director of the Office of Management and Budget, the arm of the White House responsible for crafting the federal budget and overseeing the effectiveness of federal programs. [5][6]At 40, he is the youngest member of the Obama Cabinet, as the president upgraded the Director of OMB to cabinet-level priority.
[edit] Writings
* Orszag, Peter R. (July 9, 2008). "Climate Change Economics". Washington Post: p. A15.
* co-editor of American Economic Policy in the 1990s (MIT Press: 2002)
* co-author of Protecting the American Homeland: A Preliminary Analysis (Brookings Institution Press: 2002)
* co-author of Saving Social Security: A Balanced Approach (Brookings Institution Press: 2004)
* co-author of Protecting the Homeland 2006/7 (Brookings Institution Press: 2006)
* co-editor of Aging Gracefully: Ideas to Improve Retirement Security in America (Century Foundation Press: 2006)
* Orszag, Peter. 1999. Administrative Costs in Individual Accounts in the United Kingdom. Washington, DC: Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (March).
* Orszag, Peter R. (October 1, 2008). "CBO's Analysis of Dodd Substitute Amendment for H.R. 1424" (PDF). Congressional Budget Office. 2. cbo.gov. Retrieved on 2008-10-03.
* Orszag, Peter and Joseph E. Stiglitz. "Rethinking Pension Reform: Ten Myths about Social Security Systems." In Robert Holzman and Joseph Stiglitz, eds., New Ideas about Old Age Security. (The World Bank: 2001).
* Orszag, Peter, J. Michael Orszag. "The Benefits of Flexible Funding: Implications for Pension Reform in an Uncertain World." In Annual Bank Conference on Development Economics. (The World Bank: 2001).
[edit] External links
Sister project Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Peter R. Orszag
* Curriculum Vitae at CBO
[edit] References
1. ^ Created by David Wallechinsky. "AllGov - Officials - Orszag, Peter". allgov.com. Retrieved on 2008-11-26.
2. ^ a b Connolly, Ceci (26 November 2008). "Orszag Will Be Director of OMB: Position Expected to Have Broader Role" (Washington Post). p. A3.
3. ^ Calmes, Jackie (November 18, 2008). "The New Team: Peter R. Orszag". The New York Times. nytimes.com. Retrieved on 2008-11-25.
4. ^ a b Klein, Ezra (January 14, 2009). "The Number-Cruncher-in-Chief". The American Prospect. prospect.org. Retrieved on January 14, 2009.
5. ^ washingtonpost.com
6. ^ cboblog.cbo.gov
en.wikipedia.org
November 19, 2008
The New Team: Peter R. Orszag [NYT]
By JACKIE CALMES
As he prepares to take office, President-elect Barack Obama is relying on a small team of advisers who will lead his transition operation and help choose the members of the Obama administration. Following is part of a series of profiles of potential members of the administration.
Name: Peter R. Orszag
Chosen for: Office of Management and Budget Director.
Will bring to the job: An up-to-the-minute familiarity with the federal budget. Mr. Orszag has been director of the Congressional Budget Office since January 2007, and has focused particularly on health policy, since cost increases for Medicare, Medicaid and other programs are projected to contribute to unsustainable budget deficits in coming years. Such expertise could help Mr. Obama, who has promised to expand health-care insurance to more Americans while containing costs.
Is linked to Mr. Obama by: Occasional meetings on budget issues during Mr. Obama’s early Senate years.
In his own words: “Many observers have noted that addressing the problems in financial markets and the risks to the economy may displace health care reform on the policy agenda — and that may well be the case for some period of time. .... Although this may not seem immediately relevant given our current difficulties, it will be crucial to address the nation’s looming fiscal gap — which is driven primarily by rising health care costs — as the economy eventually recovers from this current downturn.” (An Oct. 13 blog entry by Mr. Orszag on the Web site of the Congressional Budget Office.)
Used to work as: An economic adviser to President Bill Clinton, and before that to Mr. Clinton’s Council of Economic Advisers. After leaving the White House, he formed an economic consulting company, then became a senior fellow for economic studies at the Brookings Institution, a center-left research organization in Washington. There, he directed the Hamilton Project, which enlists scholars to propose solutions for problems with big fiscal and societal costs, and the Retirement Security Project, which promotes public and private incentives to help improve retirees’ income prospects.
Carries as baggage: Like other young economists who are in line for economic advisory jobs in the Obama administration, Mr. Orszag (who turns 40 in December) is a protégé of Robert E. Rubin, the former treasury secretary. The prominence of such “Rubinesque” centrists is vexing to liberals and union leaders in the Democratic Party, who favor some trade protectionism and more domestic spending and oppose the centrists’ emphasis on free trade and fiscal responsibility.
Is otherwise known for: Running marathons and attending country-western concerts. In a June 2007 appearance on CNN’s “Lou Dobbs Tonight,” Mr. Orszag’s paraphrase of a country star’s hit song disarmed Mr. Dobbs, who was unsuccessfully pushing Mr. Orszag, as the Congressional Budget Office director, to validate his own views that illegal immigrants impose high costs on taxpayers. “Well, Lou, as Toby Keith would say, that’s not how it is,” Mr. Orszag said. The host, taken aback by the unlikely allusion from the bespectacled economist, replied, “You rock on, Mr. Director!”
Resume includes: Born Dec. 16, 1968 in Boston ... graduated summa cum laude from Princeton University with master’s and doctor’s degrees from the London School of Economics ... has co-written or co-edited a number of books, including “Saving Social Security: A Balanced Approach” ... has recently became a member of the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies of Sciences ... Divorced, has two young children, Leila and Joshua.
nytimes.com |
