West Wing Moves

OOTS notes that two recent changes inWhite House personnel will likely have significant impact on policies forlow-income Americans. Gene Sperling, formerly counselor to Treasury SecretaryTimothy Geithner, is replacing Larry Summers as the director of the NationalEconomic Council, a post that Sperling held previously under Clinton, andHeather Higginbottom is the new deputy director of the Office of Management andBudget under Jack Lew.

 

You may recall that in the Clinton WhiteHouse, Sperling had his hands on a variety of policies, and his energetic selfwill surely be active again. In 2005, Sperling wrote a book called The Pro-Growth Progressive: An Economic Strategyfor Shared Prosperity on the importance of promoting growth initiatives asa part of progressive politics. “Our primary goal should be raising allmiddle-class and poor boats substantially,” Sperling wrote, “even if thewell-off boats rise at a similar or faster pace.”

 

Heather Higginbottom joins the OMB afterspending the last two years as deputy director of the Domestic Policy Council.Higginbottom has been a key Obama policy honcho, and with much of the actionmoving to budgets spending and cuts her new portfolio will matter deeply topoor people.

 

OOTS is excited to see these two policyleaders take on the tough challenges we face, especially when public policymatters now more than ever.

 

Posted by Mike

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Here at Outof the Spotlight, we offer a behind-the-scenes look at the latest news andinformation essential to anyone working to fight poverty. From key politicalappointees to clashes over policy, we cover the news that doesn’t always makethe evening news. Check out Outof the Spotlight for our take on thetwists and turns of the latestpolitical developments and their impact onpoverty reduction. Topics and ideas are welcome! Just contact mlaracy@aecf.org or watersboots@hotmail.com