Personnel Notes

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." 

The two top financial regulators would have key roles overseeing the implementation of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street reform law.

Treasury Secretary nominee Jack Lew made the rounds on Capitol Hill on Wednesday, chatting with senators about his next career step. 

Lew, who headed up the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), and is President Obama's chief of staff, met with Republicans on the Senate Finance Committee, Orrin Hatch, Rob Portman (Ohio), Johnny Isakson (Ga.) and John Cornyn of Texas.

The meeting with the panel's ranking member took about 45 minutes. 

“We had a constructive conversation that focused on the economic challenges facing our nation and the critical steps that need be taken to get our fiscal house in order," Hatch said in a statement following the meeting.

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A key Senate Democrat announced Tuesday that he supported Jack Lew's nomination to be Treasury secretary.

Sen. Max Baucus (D-Mont.), the chairman of the tax-writing Finance Committee, said after meeting Lew on Tuesday that he hoped for "a quick but thorough confirmation process." 

The House Ways and Means Committee has shifted around its subcommittee chairs, after the retirement of two senior Republicans.

Rep. Kevin Brady (R-Texas) will take over the gavel of the panel’s Health subcommittee, after previously serving as chairman of the Trade subcommittee. 

Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Calif.) will now head up the Trade panel, and Rep. Dave Reichert (R-Wash.) will assume the top spot on the Human Resources subcommittee. 

Reps. Charles Boustany Jr. (R-La.), Sam Johnson (R-Texas) and Pat Tiberi (R-Ohio) will remain the chairmen of the Oversight, Social Security and Select Revenue Measures subcommittees, respectively.

The Ways and Means panel is among the more powerful on Capitol Hill, with jurisdiction over many of the issues at the center of the current fiscal debate — including the debt ceiling, the tax code, entitlement programs like Social Security and Medicare and welfare programs.

The former head of the Financial Services Roundtable is joining Levick, a public relations firm.

Former Rep. Steve Bartlett (R-Texas) will be a strategic policy adviser at Levick, the firm announced.

“It’s an extraordinary time to be joining a great communications firm. With today’s accelerated impact of global communications, organizations of all types now have the capacity to drive the narrative about themselves and the issues vital to them,” Bartlett said in a statement. “The opportunity to do so is all the more critical as public confidence in our business institutions continues to be tested.”

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) announced Thursday that he would oppose Jack Lew’s nomination for Treasury secretary, saying President Obama’s choice was too cozy with Wall Street. 

Sanders, who caucuses with Senate Democrats, said in a statement that he was “extremely concerned that virtually all” of Obama’s economic team had ties to Wall Street, and that he didn’t believe Lew would fight to save key programs like Medicaid, Medicare and Social Security. 

The Vermont senator, who voted against Lew’s nomination to head the Office of Management and Budget in 2010, is so far the only member of the Democratic caucus to announce he would oppose Obama's pick. 

“In my view, we need a Treasury secretary who is prepared to stand up to corporate America and their powerful lobbyists and fight for policies that protect the working families in our country,” Sanders said. “I do not believe Mr. Lew is that person.”

The head of one of the nation's top credit-union advocates is set to retire this summer after 13 years leading the group. 

Fred Becker, president and chief executive of the National Association of Federal Credit Unions (NAFCU), will depart July 31 and will be replaced by Dan Berger, NAFCU's executive vice president of government affairs, the group announced on Monday.

"Over the past 13 years, Fred has completely transformed NAFCU into the aggressive high-powered advocacy group it is today, tirelessly advancing credit union issues with federal regulatory agencies, the White House and Congress,” said Mike Parsons, NAFCU's chairman and president and CEO of First Source Federal Credit Union, New Hartford, N.Y.