Doug Elmendorf to head CBO

Executive Summary

Having started his non-academic career as a Congressional Budget Office analyst whose purview included health care reform, Douglas Elmendorf is returning to the agency to succeed Peter Orszag as director. During his first stint at the budget agency in 1993-95, Elmendorf's output included analysis of the economic effects of the Clinton Administration health care proposals and options for controlling private health insurance premiums. Since leaving CBO in 1995, the Harvard-educated economist has served in senior positions at Treasury, the Federal Reserve Board and the Council of Economic Advisers. He currently is director of the Hamilton Project at the Brookings Institution. Orszag, who will lead the Office of Management and Budget in the Obama Administration, was the first director of that project, which generates ideas for promoting broad-based economic growth. CBO has helped kicked off the health reform debate with a late December report scoring the budget impact of various reform options. Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi announced the selection of Elmendorf Dec. 30