Congressional Republicans announced their selection for Congress’ in-house budget accounting agency Friday, putting an end to a small-scale drama over who will be in charge of keeping tabs on government spending and taxation.
The new director of the Congressional Budget Office will be Keith Hall, an economist with a long career in government and the current chief economist for the U.S. International Trade Commission.
“Keith Hall will bring an impressive level of economic expertise and experience to the Congressional Budget Office,” said House Budget Committee Chairman Tom Price, R-Ga., announcing the selection.
Hall will replace Douglas Elmendorf, a Democratic appointee who has been serving as head of the CBO, although his official term expired in January.
Although Elmendorf, a former adviser to President Bill Clinton, was respected among many right-of-center conservative economists, Republicans wanted their own appointee in place. Some conservatives also faulted Elmendorf for his management of the estimate of the budgetary and economic effects of Obamacare.
House Speaker John Boehner referred to Elmendorf as a “true class act” in a statement welcoming Hall.
Hall has a right-of-center background, having worked on President George W. Bush’s team of economic advisers and, more recently, for the Mercatus Center, a libertarian think tank in Arlington Virginia.
Hall has a PhD in economics from Purdue University, and has taught at Purdue, George Mason, Georgetown, and other schools.
He served as the commissioner of the Bureau of Labor Statistics from 2008 to 2012, a position for which he received unanimous confirmation by a Democratic-led Senate. The CBO director position is not subject to confirmation.
Nevertheless, his selection elicited liberal criticism Friday. Budget Committee ranking member Bernie Sanders said that Hall’s views on the minimum wage and poverty”place him outside the mainstream.” Sanders is an independent self-described socialist who caucuses with Democrats.
Led by Price, Republicans have sought to overhaul the way that legislation is scored by the CBO for its impact on deficits and economic growth.
Among other items, they are aiming to institute dynamic scoring, a method of budget-keeping that takes into account feedback from the overall economic effects of tax and spending changes. Dynamic scoring can lower the estimate fiscal cost of some tax changes.
CBO estimates the fiscal and economic effects of individual items of legislation, as well as providing baseline economic and budget projections and reports on relevant trends and policy options.
Having a CBO director more aligned with their economic views will make it easier for Republicans to implement their intended budget process changes.
