President-elect Donald Trump has chosen Rep. Mick Mulvaney (R-SC) as his nominee for director of the White House Office of Management and Budget.
The OMB director oversees the development of the proposed presidential budget, various performance and management functions, and the regulatory process. OMB has also been an important driver of evidence-based policy during the Obama years.
Mulvaney is known as a strong fiscal conservative and was a co-founder of the conservative House Freedom Caucus. If the new administration were to incorporate evidence more tightly into its budget process, as has been recommended by the conservative Heritage Foundation, it would do so under Mulvaney’s leadership.
Mulvaney’s selection is also the latest example of close ties between Trump and House Speaker Paul Ryan, who has been a strong supporter of evidence-based policy, albeit with a conservative bent. According to The Washington Post:
Mulvaney has had largely friendly relations with Boehner’s successor, Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.). He was among three members who offered nominating speeches for Ryan in a closed-door House GOP leadership election last month.
Ryan and Mulvaney have a record of working together on budget issues.
Ryan, who served as chairman of the House Budget Committee from 2011 to 2015, said Mulvaney is “someone I have come to greatly respect and rely on, going back to our time serving together on the Budget Committee.”
And according to CNN:
[Mulvaney] didn’t initially support Trump for president — he first endorsed Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul during the primaries. But he endorsed Trump a few hours after House Speaker Paul Ryan did in June, saying at a candidates’ forum in Gaffney, South Carolina, that Trump could advance the Republican agenda.
Ryan praised the nomination shortly after it was announced.
“Mick Mulvaney is the absolute right choice,” Ryan said in a statement. “I look forward to working with Mick in his new role, and I commend President-elect Trump on this excellent selection.”
Related
- Heritage Foundation Endorses Increased Use of Evidence in Budgeting for Trump Administration (December 7, 2016)
- Woodson Meeting Signals Closer Trump Ties to Ryan on Poverty, Evidence (November 19, 2016)
- The Future of Evidence-Based Policy Hangs on the Trump-Ryan Relationship (November 14, 2016)
- Republicans Deploy an Old Tool in Combating Poverty: Evidence (June 14, 2016)
- Performance and Outcomes in the Ryan Anti-poverty Plan (July 24, 2014)