Obama Names Chief Performance Officer

[Hissyspit]

Source: NPR

Obama Names Chief Performance Officer

NPR.org, January 7, 2009 · Obama announced his selection of Nancy Killefer as chief performance officer. She will work out of the White House with federal agencies to set performance standards and hold agency managers accountable for progress.

President-elect Obama is likely to field questions ranging from the debacle over filling his vacant Senate seat to plans for passage of a budget-busting economic stimulus package during a news conference on Wednesday.

The stimulus plan — expected to cost $775 billion – has drawn the ire of some congressional budget hawks who are concerned about the measure's cost. The president-elect is promising a long-term goal of fiscal discipline in Washington despite the recovery plan's short-term cost.

Obama has said he is seeking passage of a pork-free economic stimulus package, saying the exclusion of pet projects will represent a new standard. Just two weeks from taking office, Obama vowed Tuesday to "bring a long-overdue sense of responsibility and accountability to Washington" and called budget reform "an absolute necessity." The president-elect said this week he wants Congress to pass the stimulus plan by the end of the month or the first week of February.

Read more: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=99075253&sc=nl&cc=brk-20090107-1053

[DeepModem Mom]

1. dupe -- please delete

Source: CNN

(CNN) -- President-elect Barack Obama on Wednesday announced Nancy Killefer as his pick to be chief performance officer, a new position that Obama called "one of the most important" appointments he will make.

"Change and reform can't just be election-year slogans. They must become fundamental principles of government," Obama said at a news conference. The CPO will be charged with restoring fiscal order and reforming government.

Killefer is a senior director for McKinsey & Company, a management consulting firm. She was an assistant secretary of the treasury in the Clinton administration.

She will help lead the effort to go through the budget line-by-line, eliminate what's not needed and improve the things that work, Obama said. Killefer on Wednesday pledged to do her best to "create a government that works better for its citizens."

"Most of the operational issues that the government faces today have developed over decades and will take time to address, but there is an urgency to begin now," she said....



Read more: http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/01/07/transition.wrap/index.html