Obama to nominate Furman to lead economic council

President Obama will nominate Jason Furman as the Chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers at a ceremony Monday afternoon at the White House.

Furman, currently the deputy director of the National Economic Council, will succeed Alan Krueger, who is expected to return to Princeton University and resume his career as an economics professor.

{mosads}Furman was a central player in the development and implementation of the Obama administration’s two tent-pole first-term accomplishments: the stimulus package and the Affordable Care Act. 

A White House official described him as “one of the key architects” of the 2010 payroll tax cut, and said Furman was a vocal advocate for the 2012 tax deal, which extended the Bush-era tax cuts for families making under $450,000 per year. The legislation also increased the marginal tax rate on the wealthiest Americans to 39.6 percent.

“Furman has been a key advisor to the President and has contributed to most every major proposal on jobs and the economy” since the president took office, the White House official said.

The Harvard-trained Ph.D. has also served as the face of the White House’s effort to repeal the sequester, briefing reporters in the weeks ahead of its implementation about the possible economic consequences. He warned then that the cuts would slow economic growth and that the consequences would worsen over time.

If confirmed by the Senate, Furman will retain a politically prominent role: the chairman customarily provides the White House’s comment on monthly jobs reports. 

In a statement released following Krueger’s announcement that he planned to return to academia, Obama praised the economist as “the driving force behind many of the economic policies that I have proposed.”

“He’s devoted his entire career to making sure our economy works for everyone, not just those at the very top,” the president continued. “And while we have more work to do, today our economy is improving — thanks, in no small part, to Alan’s efforts.”

Krueger is the third consecutive CEA chairman to return to his academic post: Christina Romer returned to the University of California at Berkeley in 2010 and Austan Goolsbee went back to the University of Chicago in 2011.