Tepid Reviews for Nussle Pick
Roll Call Staff
With bipartisan budget talks dead in the water and nasty veto fights over spending bills looming, President Bush on Tuesday named combative former House Budget Chairman Jim Nussle (R-Iowa) to replace former Rep. Rob Portman (R-Ohio) as head of the Office of Management and Budget.
The naming of Nussle could put an even bigger chill on Congress-ional-White House relations given that Portman has a sunny disposition and had long cultivated warm relations on both sides of the aisle while Nussle has more of a reputation as a brusque partisan.
Portman himself said Tuesday he wanted to head back to his native Ohio to spend more time with his family. The remaining months in office as Bush’s budget director did not figure to be particularly enjoyable, with Portman’s hopes of crafting a grand bipartisan budget deal or entitlement reform package going nowhere and a showdown looming with Democrats on domestic spending.
Nussle presided over Bush’s first six budgets as Budget chairman, which set the stage for the 2001 and 2003 tax cut packages.
Nussle retired from Congress last year after eight terms in a failed gubernatorial bid in Iowa, and he subsequently set up a consulting firm with offices in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, and Northern Virginia.
Democrats generally indicated that Portman’s departure and Nussle’s nomination were inauspicious at best.
Senate Budget Chairman Kent Conrad (D-N.D.) said he regretted that Portman was leaving. After putting out a terse statement that did not even mention Nussle, Conrad chose his words carefully when speaking to reporters about Nussle’s nomination.
“You know he has a reputation of being more partisan, and if progress is going to be made it’s going to take all sides to endeavor to work together,” he said.
Another Democratic Senator, who asked not to be quoted by name, said the announcement about the switch from Portman to Nussle was made at the Democrats’ regular Tuesday policy lunch and that “there was an audible reaction.”
Calling Nussle a “bare-knuckled brawler,” the Senator said, “I don’t think he’s got very high standing with anybody in the Congress who’s worked with him.”
And Conrad said Nussle’s eventual Senate confirmation hearing might be rocky.
“There are going to be issues at his confirmation,” Conrad said as he came off the floor following an unrelated Senate vote. He added, “I’ve just had four or five Members in the last hour talk to me about real concerns.”
But Conrad said he did not know whether Nussle’s partisan reputation alone would tank the nomination, and he indicated that Nussle should not necessarily expect the traditional deference usually given to nominees who are former Members. “I think it’s always going to help to come from the Hill. But look, everybody carries certain baggage and he carries certain baggage, because he is seen as very much a partisan. ... I see him as a partisan,” Conrad said.
Still, some Senate Democratic aides said it would be difficult to find a reason to block Nussle’s nomination on the merits, considering opponents cannot claim he is not qualified for the job.
“He’s not going to win nominee of the year,” said one senior Senate Democratic aide. “But he’ll be confirmed.”
Senate Budget ranking member Judd Gregg (R-N.H.) also said he sees no reason why Nussle’s confirmation should be a problem.
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