Personnel Notes

Sylvia Mathews Burwell, head of the Wal-Mart Foundation, had long been considered the leading choice for OMB director.

The powerful Senate Appropriations Committee has added new top staffers, just as it confronts a possible government shutdown at the end of the month.  Read more...

The Senate is expected to vote on Jack Lew's nomination for Treasury secretary this week, Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said Monday.

The Senate Finance Committee is scheduled to consider – and clear – Lew's nomination on Tuesday, paving the way for a vote by the full chamber. 

A full Senate vote could occur as early as Wednesday, a Democratic aide said, but the timing would depend on whether Senate Republicans employed any tactics to delay a vote.  

His nomination is expected to move through both the Finance panel and the full Senate.

Former Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-Maine) is joining the Bipartisan Policy Center.

Snowe will be a senior fellow at the think tank and will be a co-chairwoman of its newly-formed Commission on Political Reform.

“Joining the Bipartisan Policy Center is a natural extension of my efforts to achieve results throughout my tenure in Congress, and it provides an ideal means for developing strategies that can garner the broad support necessary to achieve real solutions to the challenges confronting our nation,” Snowe said in a statement.

Karen Mills, the head of the Small Business Administration (SBA), on Monday became the latest departure from President Obama's Cabinet.

“After four years as Administrator of the SBA, I have let President Obama know that I will not be staying for a second term. I will stay on until my successor is confirmed to ensure a smooth and seamless transition,” Mills wrote in a note to SBA staff.

Mills has served for nearly four years in the administration, and became a member of the Cabinet a little more than a year ago after the president elevated the SBA administrator to his inner circle.

Obama credited Mills for her efforts to support start-ups and entrepreneurs and in seeing through the passage of the Small Business Jobs Act.

"I asked Karen to lead the SBA because I knew she had the skills and experience to help America’s small businesses recover from the worst economic crisis in generations — and that’s exactly what she’s done," Obama said.

"Because of Karen’s hard work and dedication, our small businesses are better positioned to create jobs and our entire economy is stronger.”

Baucus, a centrist six-term senator of Montana, is expected to be a top GOP target in 2014.

Executives hope Senate hearing will shed light on budget guru’s views.

Washington’s most influential gang of deficit hawks is getting into the lobbying game.

The Fix the Debt coalition has registered a trio of in-house lobbyists to work with lawmakers and the administration on reducing the nation’s long-term debt, according to lobbying disclosure records.

The move to K Street is a strong signal that Fix the Debt is here to stay, after having failed last year to pressure lawmakers into forging a grand deal on the deficit.

The lobbyists working for Fix the Debt are Cynthia Brown, former chief of staff to Rep. Ron Kind (D-Wis.); Nathaniel Hoopes, once a legislative director for ex-Sen. Scott Brown (R-Mass.); and Elizabeth Wroe, a former healthy policy director and counsel for the Senate Budget Committee.

The three have been lobbying for Fix the Debt since Jan. 2 on “fixing US long term debt and deficits,” according to their lobbying registration. Read more...

Neal Wolin, the current No. 2 at Treasury, will temporarily take over the top slot after Timothy Geithner leaves the department after Friday.

President Obama has nominated his chief of staff, Jack Lew, to take over for Geithner as Treasury secretary. But Lew has only just started making the rounds with senators, and the White House has asked Wolin to remain at the department to smooth the transition process.

"The President feels very strongly that Jack Lew is an excellent and highly qualified nominee, and he hopes that the Senate will move expeditiously to confirm him," Jay Carney, the White House press secretary, told reporters on Thursday. "We have a highly qualified deputy Treasury Secretary who remains in place — Neal Wolin."