Jack Lew is expected to be appointed Treasury Secretary tomorrow. ValueWalk reported in September that Lew is likely to become the next Treasury Secretary if President Obama was reelected. Then in November that speculation was renewed after the president won reelection. Today, we hear from Bloomberg, which cited an anonymous source who said Lew’s appointment will come tomorrow.
So who is Jack Lew? He is certainly someone who has maintained a low profile, although he has served as budget director for the White House—two times, once for Obama and once for Clinton—and spent years in Washington in different capacities, including as a senior State Department official. In all, Lew has more than three decades of experience wrangling with Washington budget headaches.
Lew is taking over the Treasury department at a time of bitter turmoil in Washington. Congress is at war with itself over the debt ceiling and federal spending cuts. At this point those cuts will begin in March, and speculation swirls about what could happen if members of the Congress don’t resolve their differences in dealing with Washington’s budget woes.
The nomination of Lew means that current Treasury Secretary, Timothy Geithner, is expected to step down, possibly by the end of this month. It also means that President Obama will have to choose his next chief of staff. Two of the possible front runners for the post are Ron Klain, who served as chief of staff for Vice President Biden, and Denis McDonough, who services as a deputy national security adviser.
The president is yet to name the people to fill other key budgetary positions in Washington, like his next Commerce Secretary and new budget director.
