From the Office of Management and Budget comes news that Jim Bates has left the House Budget Committee to become the new associate director for natural resource programs. He had been minority staff director under ranking member Paul Ryan (R-Wis.). [IMGCAP(1)]

Discussing his now-former job on Capitol Hill, Bates said he was proud of “developing the GOP substitute for [fiscal] ’08, which included, over 5 years, $270 billion in savings from major entitlement reforms.”

He also served as majority chief of staff and in other positions for then-Budget Chairman Jim Nussle (R-Iowa). Nussle, of course, is now director of OMB. Back when Republicans ran Congress, he played a large role in the Deficit Reduction Act of 2006, which Bates said was notable because it was the first major reconciliation bill making reforms to major entitlement programs to be enacted in almost 10 years. Also noteworthy was his development of a post-Katrina budget amendment.

Bates, “father of the two most wonderful kids on the planet,” now has as his goal enacting a farm bill that reflects reforms in President Bush’s budget. He also wants to develop a budget request that achieves the president’s energy- and climate-related goals within a fiscally responsible framework.

Bates earned his undergraduate degree from Pepperdine University and went on to earn a master’s in public policy from Claremont McKenna College. He resides in Annandale, Va., with his wife, Rebecca, and two boys. He is active in his local church, and likes to surf fish (casting from the beach), despite not being very good at it.

Lotz to Do. Roger Lotz has produced some of the most hated statistics in America.

As part of the Department of Transportation’s Bureau of Transportation Statistics, he was responsible for the calculation of the dreaded airline figures that chronicle what percentage of flights arrive and depart on time.

Calling the statistics “terrible things,” Lotz later moved into the DOT’s Research and Innovation Technology Administration. After five years total at the DOT, he has landed headfirst in Rep. Brad Sherman’s (D-Calif.) office as press secretary.

Despite his immediate background, he has a history of working with the press. Lotz was a news producer with WBBM-TV, a CBS News outlet in Chicago, and was a press secretary for the late Rep. Juanita Millender-McDonald (D-Calif.). Lotz, 44, spent two years with the National Association of Broadcasters. He also served the Senate Democratic Policy Committee in technology office. [IMGCAP(2)]

An avid Outer Banks scuba diver, he is originally from Chicago and attended Loyola University in Chicago.

Tsongas Staffs Up. Katie Elbert has been named chief of staff for Rep. Niki Tsongas (D-Mass.) after serving as communications director during the new House Member’s special election campaign.

“Katie brings broad experience from Washington and has demonstrated her dedication to advancing the interests and addressing the needs of the families living in this remarkable district,” Tsongas said.

A graduate of Marquette University in Milwaukee, she earned a bachelor’s degree in 2001. Her majors were English and political science, which focused heavily on writing. She has served the press secretary for Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) and has worked for Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.) as well as a Congressional campaign in Florida.

From Jackson, Mich., Elbert is 28 and enjoys the blog “Blue Mass. Group.”

The Massachusetts lottery has recently benefitted from Elbert’s largess, as she has a “slight obsession with Red Sox scratch tickets.” The grand prize is season tickets.

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