Jack Lew

President Obama announced a reshuffling of his top White House personnel Friday, naming Deputy National Security Adviser Denis McDonough as his new chief of staff and saying goodbye to longtime senior adviser David Plouffe , a key architect of his political strategy. Obama promoted McDonough, one of his most trusted and loyal deputies , to oversee White House operations as the administration tackles its major second-term legislative initiatives, including gun-control measures,...

BRUSSELS — Treasury Secretary Jack Lew , quickly embracing his role as the leading U.S. diplomat on the economy, pushed his counterparts in Europe on Monday to do more to drive economic growth and enact stronger and more unified defenses against financial panics. Lew was making his first official trip to Europe as President Obama's second Treasury secretary after serving as his budget director and chief of staff. In the first two months of his tenure, Lew's role is shaping up to be...

The Senate confirmed Jack Lew as Treasury secretary Wednesday, giving him broad responsibilities over the U.S. economy just as the country faces potentially severe budget cuts , a still-tepid recovery and an overhaul of financial regulations that remains incomplete. After being grilled by Republican lawmakers in recent weeks over his work and pay at bailout recipient Citigroup , Lew was given the Senate's green light in a 71 to 26 vote. Lew follows Timothy F. Geithner, whose tenure drew controversy after the...

BEIJING — In his first meeting with any foreign official as China's new president , Xi Jinping discussed trade issues with U.S. Treasury Secretary Jack Lew on Tuesday, underlining the importance of U.S.-Chinese economic ties. Both men stuck largely to boilerplate diplomacy in the short portion of the meeting that was open to the media, emphasizing shared interests rather than differences. "I can say we have a seamless connection," Xi said at the top of the meeting. But in private,...

In a brutal campaign ad last year, Barack Obama showed Mitt Romney warbling "America the Beautiful" while pictures of a sandy beach appeared and the ad declared: "He had millions in a Swiss bank account . . . tax havens like Bermuda … and the Cayman Islands. " It concluded: "Mitt Romney's not the solution. He's the problem. " Well, apparently someone else is part of the "problem": Obama's nominee for Treasury secretary, Jack Lew. It turns out Lew had $56,000 invested in a Citigroup venture capital fund based in ...

President Obama won reelection in part by beating up on his opponent for receiving big corporate payouts in exchange for dubious work and for socking away money in tax havens such as the Cayman Islands. So it's a bit, well, rich that Obama chose as his new Treasury secretary a man who received a big corporate payout for dubious work and who socked away money in the Cayman Islands. This awkward fact pattern forced a role reversal Wednesday on Capitol Hill, as Obama's nominee, Jack Lew, came before...

President Obama recently said he would love to hire a top executive into his administration. But for the job of Treasury secretary, he didn't pick a corporate executive, a famous economist or a former politician — he has decided to tap a trusted adviser, White House Chief of Staff Jacob Lew, an expert on the nation's ongoing budget wars. Obama on Thursday plans to nominate Lew to take over from Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner, the president's longest-serving economic adviser ,...

GOP senators plan to ask pointed questions about Jack Lew's work at Citigroup — and his pay at the bailed-out bank — when the Treasury nominee appears before a Senate panel for his confirmation hearing Wednesday, officials said Monday. Some Republicans think Lew has not provided satisfactory answers about his exact responsibilities at the bank during the financial crisis, congressional staffers say. The issue is relevant, they...

Bob Woodward ( woodwardb@washpost.com ) is an associate editor of The Post. His latest book is " The Price of Politics . " Evelyn M. Duffy contributed to this column. Misunderstanding, misstatements and all the classic contortions of partisan message management surround the sequester, the term for the $85 billion in ugly and largely irrational federal spending cuts set by law to begin Friday. What is the non-budget wonk to make of this? Who is responsible ? What really happened?

The man in line to become President Obama's next chief of staff is one of his most loyal and trusted confidants — a rare Washington player, associates said, whose sole objective is protecting and advancing the interests of his boss. Denis McDonough, 43, is widely known for his pivotal role as deputy national security adviser for the past two years, helping guide the U.S. military drawdown in Iraq and Afghanistan and the handling of the attack on a U.S. diplomatic mission in Benghazi, ...

Is bad penmanship a prerequisite for President Obama 's second-term Cabinet? Newly minted Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel signed off on a letter to a former Senate colleague this week with a scrawly, nearly illegible version of his signature. We're pretty sure it's his signature, at least, but we arrived at that only by deduction, based on its placement. It appears he's giving Treasury Secretary Jack Lew a run for his money. Lew, whose John Hancock will grace every dollar bill being issued, was roundly mocked ( ...

Sylvia Mathews Burwell has been out of Washington for more than a decade, but President Obama's pick to be his next budget director will see a familiar cast of characters if the Senate confirms her for the post. Burwell served on President Bill Clinton's economic team for his entire tenure, finishing as deputy director of the Office of Management and Budget. At the end of the administration, she left to to play a senior role at the Gates Foundation in Seattle and later became...

The Senate confirmed Jack Lew as Treasury secretary Wednesday, giving him broad responsibilities over the U.S. economy just as the country faces potentially severe budget cuts , a still-tepid recovery and an overhaul of financial regulations that remains incomplete. After being grilled by Republican lawmakers in recent weeks over his work and pay at bailout recipient Citigroup , Lew was given the Senate's green light in a 71 to 26 vote. Lew follows Timothy F. Geithner, whose tenure drew...

Bob Woodward ( woodwardb@washpost.com ) is an associate editor of The Post. His latest book is " The Price of Politics . " Evelyn M. Duffy contributed to this column. Misunderstanding, misstatements and all the classic contortions of partisan message management surround the sequester, the term for the $85 billion in ugly and largely irrational federal spending cuts set by law to begin Friday. What is the non-budget wonk to make of this? Who is responsible ? What really happened?

Treasury secretary nominee Jack Lew on Wednesday defended his work at Citigroup and argued that his long career in government and business qualified him to become the President Obama's top economic adviser. After more than three hours of questions at his confirmation hearing, Lew appeared unruffled by grilling from Republicans about a wide range of topics, from his investment in a fund registered in the Cayman Islands to his thoughts on comprehensive tax...

President Obama won reelection in part by beating up on his opponent for receiving big corporate payouts in exchange for dubious work and for socking away money in tax havens such as the Cayman Islands. So it's a bit, well, rich that Obama chose as his new Treasury secretary a man who received a big corporate payout for dubious work and who socked away money in the Cayman Islands. This awkward fact pattern forced a role reversal Wednesday on Capitol Hill, as Obama's nominee, Jack Lew, came before the...

In selecting Jack Lew , the White House chief of staff, to replace Timothy Geithner as Treasury secretary, President Obama has sent some not-so-subtle messages: The Treasury's autonomy will be curbed; the president doesn't much fear another financial crisis (otherwise, his nominee might have more financial-market experience); and the president isn't conciliating his Republican and business critics (otherwise, his nominee would be less partisan). In many ways, the choice of Lew makes perfect sense.

President Obama hasn't even begun his second term, yet already he has been ensnared by scandal. Republicans have uncovered a shocking level of wrongdoing in the Oval Office, and I'm afraid what they say is true: The president is brazenly trying to fill his Cabinet with . . . people he likes. Alas, the perfidy doesn't end there. Not only is Obama naming agreeable people to his Cabinet, he is also — audaciously, flagrantly — nominating people who . . . agree with his policies.

GOP senators plan to ask pointed questions about Jack Lew's work at Citigroup — and his pay at the bailed-out bank — when the Treasury nominee appears before a Senate panel for his confirmation hearing Wednesday, officials said Monday. Some Republicans think Lew has not provided satisfactory answers about his exact responsibilities at the bank during the financial crisis, congressional staffers say. The issue is relevant, they say, because the Treasury secretary has new...

In a brutal campaign ad last year, Barack Obama showed Mitt Romney warbling "America the Beautiful" while pictures of a sandy beach appeared and the ad declared: "He had millions in a Swiss bank account . . . tax havens like Bermuda … and the Cayman Islands. " It concluded: "Mitt Romney's not the solution. He's the problem. " Well, apparently someone else is part of the "problem": Obama's nominee for Treasury secretary, Jack Lew. It turns out Lew had $56,000 invested in a Citigroup venture capital fund ...