Congressional Budget Chief to Quit

[UpInArms]

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=512&e=8&u=/ap/20051114/ap_on_go_co/cbo_director

WASHINGTON - The top budget analyst for Congress, Douglas Holtz-Eakin, has announced he will be leaving his post as director of the Congressional Budget Office by year's end.

Holtz-Eakin is leaving to lead the Center for Geoeconomic Studies at the Council on Foreign Relations, a Washington-based think-tank.

The CBO is Congress' official budget scorekeeping office, responsible for providing estimates on the budget to rival those produced by the White House. It also estimates the budgetary impacts of legislation proposed by lawmakers, which gives it a crucial role in the legislative process in Washington.

Holtz-Eakin came to CBO in February 2003 from the White House, where he was the chief economist for the Council of Economic Advisers. Despite his GOP leanings, Holtz-Eakin won praise from lawmakers in both parties for his even-handedness at the helm of the agency.

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[napi21]

1. I've watched him on cspan WJ often. He's a very smart guy.

As far as I could tell, he didn't pull any punches either. Just told things like they were. I'm sorry to see him leave.

[unblock]

2. "congressional budget office data to become completely useless"

yet another government agency to be headed by a banana republican data manipulator.

[alkaline9]

3. how much pressure was this guy under to step down?

...only to have a crony replace him? business as usual for the BFEE

[DrGrishka]

4. Actually CBO is non-partisan

Always has been. Which is why the majority party always complains about it (because unlike the OMB they don't skew numbers to fit the political agenda of the majority party). Dems complained about CBO all the time when they controlled the House. GOP is singing the same tune now.

I think that the replacement head of CBO must be in effect a joint appointment by Hastert and Pelosi, and Frist and Reid, so I wouldn't worry much about it.

[seasat]

5. It's always interesting to compare the CBO, CBPP, and OMB.

The congressional branch and the think tank (Center on Budget and Policy Priorities) usually come up with similar projection on the deficit. The White House controlled Office of Management and Budget, under Shrub Inc, always comes up with a higher projection using their dynamic scoring voodoo. That way Shrub Inc can claim that the actual deficit came in under projections. They've done every year the dufus has been in office. The actual numbers usually end up close to the CBO and CBPP projections.