New White House Position Filled by Topnotch Executive

Obama made the pledge but provided few details as he named Nancy Killefer as his administration’s chief performance  officer,  creating  a  new White  House  position  aimed  at eliminating  government  waste  and improving  efficiency.  Ms.  Killefer is  highly regarded  as  an  innovative problem solver and in her time as the head of the Internal Revenue Service she did much to change the mood of tax collector and  to begin  removing much of the red tape surrounding the tax payment  and  collection  system the world’s largest.

Noting that the Congressional Budget Office had  just estimated he would  inherit  a  $1.2  trillion  federal deficit for fiscal 2009, Obama promised to cut unnecessary spending.

“We  expect  that  discussion around entitlements will be a part, a central part of  those plans,” Obama said.  “And I would  expect that by

February  in  line with  the announcement of at  least a rough budget outline we will have more  to say about how we’re going to approach entitlement spending.”

For the frst  time, Obama  gave a ballpark price  tag  for his massive economic  plan  aimed  at  generating jobs and jolting the country out of recession. Aides have said it could cost as  much  as  $775  billion  over  two years. Outside economists have suggested as much as $1.2 trillion would be needed.

“We expect that it will be on the high end of our estimates but will not be as high as some economists have recommended  because  of  the  constraint  and concerns we  have  about the existing deficit,” Obama said. He plans to give a speech on the economy at George Mason University  in Virginia  on Thursday to lay out his reasons why Congress should quickly  pass  his  still evolving  economic plan.

At  the brief news conference Wednesday at his transition headquarters,  Obama  also  deferred  to President  George  W.  Bush  on  the conflict between Israel and Hama’s.

Even as he’s delved  into domestic issues, Obama has refrained from commenting on  the conflict and has insisted that he would allow the cur chief executive to deal with foreign policy matters until  the Jan. 20 inauguration.

Nancy Killefer:  Obama’s Chief Performance Officer introduced by president elect Obama

“We  can’t  have  two  administrations  running  foreign  policy  at  the same  time. We  simply  can’t  do  it,” said. “The silence is not as a consequence of a lack of concern. In fact, it’s not silence. ... I’ve explained very  clearly  what  institutional  constraints  I’m under when  it comes  to this issue.”

Still, Obama said he was “deeply concerned”  about  the  conflict. He also  offered  assurances  that  he was being briefed consistently on  the  issue  and  his  national  security  team was “up to speed.”

As  he  named  Killefer,  Obama promised to scour the federal budget to  eliminate what doesn’t work  and improve what  does  to  “put  government  on  the  side  of  taxpayers.” He said:  “We  can  no  longer  afford  to sustain the old ways when we know there  are  new  and  more  efficient ways to getting the job done.”

Killefer, a director of a management consulting firm who previously served as an assistant secretary of the treasury  under  President  Bill  Clinton, will work with federal agencies to  set  performance  standards  and hold  agency  managers  accountable for progress.

Obama pledged during  the campaign to form a White House SWAT team  of  sorts  led  by  a  chief  performance officer who would  report directly  to  him  to  work  with  agency leaders and the White House budget office  to  improve  federal  programs and services.

Yet,  even  as  he  announced  the post  that’s  also  aimed  at  spending taxpayer  money  more  efficiently, Obama was  spending his first week in Washington  promoting  his mammoth  economic  stimulus plan much of which will be new spending aimed at creating jobs and stoking the troubled economy.