Obama set to announce Energy, EPA, budget chiefs
President Barack Obama has tapped Wal-Mart's Sylvia Mathews Burwell as his next budget chief, thrusting her into the center of Washington's heated partisan budget battles, and is filling vacancies at the Energy Department and Environmental Protection Agency, White House officials confirmed to CBS News.
White House officials said Mr. Obama will announce Burwell's nomination to lead the Office of Management and Budget during a White House ceremony Monday morning, a White House official said. If confirmed by the Senate, Burwell would bring more diversity to Mr. Obama's second term Cabinet following criticism that many top jobs were going to white men.
Her nomination also signals that the White House is trying to get back to normal business after the president and Congress failed to avert the $85 billion in automatic spending cuts that started taking effect Friday. While the president has warned of dire consequences for the economy as a result of the cuts, the White House does not want the standoff with Congress to keep the president from focusing on other second term priorities, including filling out his Cabinet, as well as pursuing stricter gun laws and an overhaul of the nation's immigration system.
Mr. Obama also was set to announce his choice of MIT scientist Ernest Moniz to head the Energy Department and EPA veteran Gina McCarthy to run the EPA, White House officials told CBS News. The positions will require Senate confirmation.
Burwell is a Washington veteran, having served as OMB's deputy director in the Clinton administration and chief of staff to former Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin. She currently runs the Wal-Mart Foundation, the retail giant's philanthropic wing, and previously served as president of the Gates Foundation's Global Development Program.
A White House official credited Burwell with being a principal architect of a series of budget plans in the 1990s that led to a budget surplus.
Wal-Mart president Mike Duke called Burwell a strong leader with a "clear vision for making big things happen."
"She understands business and the role that business, government and civil society must play to build a strong economy that provides opportunity and strengthens communities across the country," Duke said in a statement.
Mr. Obama made quick work of filling key national security openings in his administration, but has been slower to fill other Cabinet-level openings, including the OMB post. Vacancies also remain at the Environmental Protection Agency, Commerce and Energy Departments, and the U.S. trade representative.
Administration officials have blamed the slow pace of nominations on the arduous Senate confirmation process, which requires job candidate to submit to an intense and lengthy vetting process.
Burwell would replace acting OMB director Jeffrey Zients, who has been discussed as a contender for other top jobs.
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the 'answers' were already made pre-election...republicons dont want to hear it..
The Democratic National Committee has no intention of repaying the country's largest electrical power company for the unprecedented $10 million line of credit it guaranteed to help a local host committee fund last September's Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, N.C.
According to an article on the Washington Times web site, an official for Duke Energy said the company would claim the money as a business expense for tax purposes, meaning shareholders will foot $6 million of the cost.
The amount of the loan and the secrecy surrounding it has raised red flags for government watchdog groups.
They claim the arrangement smacks of serious conflict-of-interest issues for President Obama and disputes his claim to be committed to disclosure and transparency.
Since Duke Energy guaranteed the loan, the company had previously refused to issue any information regarding payment terms or when it would come due.
At the end of January, a Duke Energy spokesman referred all questions about the loan to Dan Murrey, a surgeon in Charlotte who acted as chairman of the convention host committee, which is an independent group affiliated with the DNC.
Murrey told The Washington Times only that the line of credit was with two banks — Bank of America and the Charlotte-based Mechanics & Farmers Bank.
"We are still finishing up some collections and disbursements related to the convention, and the account is still open," Murrey said.
In 2011, The White House originally banned corporate donations to the convention, but with Democratic supporters intent on donating to what would become the most expensive presidential campaign in history, the host committee organizing the convention found itself strapped for cash and reversed the decision.
Jim Rogers, Duke Energy CEO, has said supporting the convention was a good way to get Charlotte unprecedented exposure on an international scale and was also beneficial for his company.
"At the end of the day, we'll do our best to get our money back," he told the Charlotte Observer in a January interview.
"But if we don't, it's just a contribution we're making I think for the greater good of our community."
Duke Energy's involvement went beyond the guaranteeing of a loan.
It donated $4.1 million to a separate fund formed to receive corporate money for parties outside the convention hall and $1.5 million in in-kind contributions to the host committee for other expenses, such as office space and furniture.
Watchdog groups say the loan shows that Obama put political expediency above his pledge to run "the most transparent government in history,"
"This is just a blank check for the party, and it undermines the whole [Obama] message of cracking down on special interests' influence in Washington," said Tyson Slocum, an energy specialist for Public Citizen, a left-leaning consumer rights advocacy group.
"It's clear the administration is hypocritical."
Many watchdogs are seriously concerned about Democrats accepting large donations from Duke Energy, the third-largest coal burning utility in the country.
They fear the favoritism and unfair influence with the Obama administration that could result.
Despite Obama's crackdown on emissions from coal-fired plants, Duke is one of at least a dozen firms exempted by the administration so it can pursue energy projects paid for by stimulus dollars, according to a report by the Center for Public Integrity.
In 2009, Duke received $200 million in federal stimulus money for "smart-grid" improvements and at least two of the company's power plants — one in North Carolina and another in Indiana — got hundreds of millions of dollars in "advanced coal" tax credits, as well as federal and local incentives, from the Department of Energy