Everyone but Andrew W.K.
Add two more to the list of the names being bandied about as possible successors to Energy Secretary Steven Chu : former Colorado governor Bill Ritter and John Podesta , founder of the Center for American Progress.
More from the Fed Page
GSA watchdog finds abuse in awards system for senior executives
GSA inspector general finds flawed awards and appraisal system for senior executives.
Senate committee approves Perez for confirmation vote
The full Senate will consider confirmation of President Obama's pick for labor secretary after a Senate committee voted Thursday to move forward with the process.
Obama fills jobs under streamlined process
Streamlined federal job appointments process showing results.
Chu hasn’t officially announced it, but he’s widely expected to be leaving the administration before too long. It’s thought that Podesta, who was chief of staff to President Bill Clinton and co-chaired the Obama transition team, would bring more political savvy to the job than Chu, whose background was as a lauded (as in Nobel Prize-winning) academic. Ritter has also been mentioned as a candidate to head the Interior Department, if and when Secretary Ken Salazar departs.
Another spot likely to open up is that of Environmental Protection Agency chief, with Administrator Lisa Jackson all but certain to step down. We’re hearing that one of the names mentioned to replace her, Deputy Administrator Bob Perciasepe, is being touted by those who think his relatively cordial relationship with business and his position as a career staffer would make him much less of a lightning rod for criticism (read: easier to confirm) than some other possibilities.
And speaking of that always-spinning revolving door, Mary Schapiro announced Monday that she’s stepping down as chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission, our colleague Dina ElBoghdady reports. Obama plans to name Elisse Walter, one of the SEC’s Democratic commissioners, to replace her.
Meanwhile, David Kappos , director of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, announced to his staff Monday morning that he’s stepping down.
Up in the air no more?
After a deep freeze, it looks as though things might be moving again in the Senate: Sen. Jim DeMint is no longer blocking the nomination of Michael Huerta to be Federal Aviation Administration administrator.
The South Carolina Republican had put a hold on Huerta this summer, reasoning that Republicans shouldn’t appoint anyone to the five-year position before the presidential election. If GOP nominee Mitt Romney had won, Huerta could have served through his first term. But now that President Obama has been reelected, DeMint has withdrawn the nominee’s roadblock.
Huerta has served as the acting chief at the FAA since Randy Babbitt resigned after a drunken-driving arrest. The charges were later dropped against Babbitt.
Huerta’s nomination was approved by a Senate committee in July, and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid now hopes to add the nomination to a package that could clear the full Senate before the end of the session, a spokesman says.
With Emily Heil
The blog: washingtonpost.com/intheloop. Twitter: @InTheLoopWP.
Loading...
Comments