Mr. Nussle Doesn’t Go to Washington — Yet

It looks like President Bush won’t have his new director of the White House Office of Management and Budget confirmed before Congress breaks for its recess. The confirmation of former U.S. representative and Iowa gubernatorial candidate Jim Nussle, a Republican, for that job appeared to be moving right along, cruising through the Senate Budget Committee, which voted to endorse the nomination 22 to one. Both Iowa Sens. Tom Harkin, a Democrat, and Republican Chuck Grassley announced they would vote in favor of Nussle’s nomination.

Then along came Sen. Bernard Sanders, I-Vt., who exercised his filibuster powers by placing a hold on Nussle’s nomination Thursday. Sanders’ hold symbolizes his protest over the Bush administration’s past fiscal policies. “President Bush is completely out of touch with the economic realities facing working families,” said Sanders, announcing his filibuster. “He needs a budget director who will make him face the facts, not his fantasies.” Sanders is not alone in his dissent. Senate Budget Chairman Kent Conrad, D-N.D., said there is at least one anonymous hold on Nussle’s nomination.

Last week, during Nussle’s confirmation hearings, Sanders forced Nussle’s hand by questioning him in regard to his budget priorities and whether or not he’ll support fiscal policies that continue to benefit the wealthiest Americans at the expense of hurting middle-class and lower-income Americans.Citing a number of statistics about impoverished children in the United States, Sanders questioned Nussle as to whether or not he, like the current OMB office, would recommend vetoing bills aimed at providing more funding for health care programs targeted at low-income children. Upon asking this, Sanders asked Nussle if he would follow this direction from the White House while simultaneously supporting tax breaks for the wealthy such as members of the Wal-Mart Walton family, which stands to benefit from a $32 billion tax break.

Nussle responded by saying he did support the tax break benefiting the likes of the Walton families, but a myriad of other reasons, not just to benefit the Waltons. Sanders pressed whether or not Nussle would essentially take the “rubber-stamp” role as the president’s budget adviser. Nussle said he would work together with the president and fully support the president’s budget.

So it looks like Nussle will have to wait until September before he starts packing his bags for his return to Washington, assuming the senatorial holds are lifted and his nomination is confirmed in both chambers. Unless, of course, Bush offers Nussle a recess appointment to OMB director, which, as Chris Woods pointed out in Iowa Independent, would “likely inflame tensions between Senate Democrats and Bush even more and could make Nussle’s job as budget negotiator between Congress and the executive branch even harder.”