Obama nominates Jocab Lew as White House budget chief

WASHINGTON-- US President Barack Obama will nominate Deputy Secretary of State Jacob Lew as new director of the White House Office of Management and Budget, the White House said on Tuesday.

If Lew is confirmed by the Senate, he will succeed Peter Orszag who is leaving the administration at the end of the month. Orszag, the first key official who will leave the Obama administration, is considered having played an important role in Obama's efforts to combat the worst economic crisis in decades.

Jocab Lew, an experienced financial and budget figure, was former Clinton administration's budget chief.

Obama said in a statement that "the experience and good judgment Jack has acquired throughout his impressive career in the public and private sector will be an extraordinary asset to this administration's efforts to cut down the deficit and put our nation back on a fiscally responsible path."

Obama said that "as the budget director who left the next administration a $237 billion surplus when he worked for President Clinton, I have no doubt that Jack has proven himself equal to this extraordinary task."

US federal budget deficit, which soared to $1.42 trillion in fiscal year 2009, is expected to increase to $1.5 trillion in 2010.

To tackle the mounting fiscal imbalance has become a top priority of the Obama administration.