Rob Nabors

White House Legislative Affairs Director (since February 2011)

(Robert A. Reeder/TWP)

Why He Matters

The ultimate Capitol Hill aide and an expert in the complicated dance that is the congressional appropriations process, Nabors moved into the White House chief of staff's office in February 2010. He had been working as a deputy for Peter Orszag's Office of Management and Budget (OMB), but moved to Rahm Emanuel's operation during the final push for health-care reform.

In January 2011, new White House chief of staff William Daley announced that Nabors would head the legislative affairs shop, replacing Phil Schiliro.

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Background

At a Glance

Career History: Senior adviser, White House Chief of Staff (2010-February 2011); Deputy Director of the Office of Management and Budget (January 2009-February 2010); Staff Director of the House Appropriations Committee (2004 to 2008); Staffer for the House Appropriations Committee (2001 to 2004); Senior adviser to Office of Management and Budget Director Jack Lew (1998 to 2001); Program examiner for the Office of Management and Budget (1996 to 1998)
Hometown: Fort Dix, N.J.

Alma Mater: University of Notre Dame, B.A. (government and computer science); University of North Carolina, M.A. (political science)
Website

Path to Power

Nabors grew up in a military family that lived all over the world. He was born in Fort Dix, N.J., and lived in Arizona, Germany, South Korea and twice in Virginia. His father, Robert L. Nabors, was a Vietnam War draftee who stayed in the military and worked his way up in the Pentagon, retiring as Army major general in 2001.

The younger Nabors decided to forgo the military and attended the University of Notre Dame, where he earned degrees in government and computer science. He received a master's in political science from the University of North Carolina before moving to Washington, D.C. in 1996.

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The Issues

Nabor's skill stems from his long congressional tenure and tight relations with lawmakers and their top staff. Those relations were an invaluable asset as President Obama tried to close the deal on health-care reform in early 2010 without any Republican support.

Nabors is used to playing political hardball, even within the House Democratic Caucus. He worked closely with former House Appropriations Chairman David Obey to pass some the most expansive budgets in U.S. history. Appropriations was in the center of the battle to continue funding for the Iraq war despite Democrats' desire to end it.

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And in the fall of 2006, while Nabors was staff director, Obey banned earmarks for the 2007 fiscal year because Congress struggled to pass funding bills in 2006.

Fiscal 2011 Bugdet Proposal

Overshadowed by a perilous political context for Democrats in an election year and an ever-growing deficit, President Obama released his $3.8 trillion budget blueprint in February 2010. The plan would spend $100 million on a new jobs program, including tax cuts for small businesses.

It would pay for such programs by allowing tax cuts on the wealthy to expire, while at the same time slapping fees on large banks that are reeling from a public backlash against their bailout during the 2008-2009 financial crisis. The budget would also freeze all discretionary spending not related to national security.

Meanwhile, the 2010 deficit was expected to approach a record $1.6 trillion, and $1.3 trillion in 2011. The fiscal 2011 budget projected that the deficit would increase by $8.5 trillion over the next decade, a slight improvement over the $9 trillion, 10-year increase that the White House projected in August 2009. Montgomery, Lori, The Washington Post, "Obama unveiling $3.8T federal budget blueprint," Feb. 1, 2009(9)

Fiscal 2010 Budget Proposal

In February 2009, President Obama released a budget proposal for fiscal year 2010 that totaled $3.6 trillion. The size of the budget had never been matched, nor had the proposed $1.5 trillion federal deficit that would accompany the fiscal plan. It was sprinkled with high-speed rail spending and renewable energy initiatives that would raise the deficit to 10 percent of the gross national product, the highest rate since World War II. In order to add these expensive initiatives, the administration proposed decreased spending for the Iraq war and select taxes on the wealthy.

Critics argued that the spending unduly increased the size and scope of the federal government and that the deficit would cripple prosperity of future generations. In April 2009, Congress passed the budget proposal without a single Republican vote in the House or Senate. The final plan stood at $3.5 trillion and predicted a $1.2 trillion deficit for 2010, which Obama plans to cut in half within five years.

The final budget also allowed for major policy changes desired by Obama, including health-care reform.

The Network

Nabors' biggest asset is his connection to Congress. He worked for the House Appropriations Committee from 2001 to 2008 and was chair David Obey's (D-Wis.) staff director for the committee for four years. He also worked directly under the previous staff director, Scott Lilly, who retired and joined the Center for American Progress in 2004.

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