Obama to Nominate Lew as Treasury Secretary

Following reports that Treasury Secreatary Timothy Geithner may not return for President Obama's second term, the Washington Post reports that the president is expected to be nominate Jacob Lew for the position this week.

Lew, the White House chief of staff, was also a behind-the-scenes fixture during the Clinton administration and served as chief operating officer for New York University and Citigroup, among other organizations.

Lew previously served as Obama's budget director and a senior State Department official. He also was budget director during the Clinton administration and has been negotiating bipartisan compromises over taxes and spending since the 1980s, when he was a top aide to then-House Speaker Thomas P. "Tip" O'Neill Jr. (D-Mass.) ...

Lew will be taking over Treasury at a time of serious challenges to the nation's economic picture. Congress is facing a battle over raising the $16.4 trillion debt limit, as well as a clash over how to stop deep spending cuts, which are set to take effect in early March. A continuing resolution funding the government expires later that month, setting the stage for battle that could lead to a government shutdown.

The nomination also means that Obama will have to choose a new chief of staff. Ron Klain, a former chief of staff to Vice President Biden, is among the rumored candidates, as is Denis McDonough, a deputy national security adviser.

Lew's nomination is the latest as Obama rounds out his second-term team. This week, he nominated former senator Chuck Hagel (R-Neb.) as his next secretary of defense and counterterrorism adviser John O. Brennan as director of the CIA.

Read more at the Washington Post.

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