President Barack Obama nominated a top State Department official to serve as director of the Office of Management and Budget Tuesday, charging him with putting the U.S. on a fiscally responsible path, AP reported. «At a time when so many families are tightening their belts, he's going to make sure the government continues to tighten its own,» Obama said in announcing Deputy Secretary of State Jacob Lew's selection at the White House. «He's going to do this while making government more efficient, more responsive to the people it serves,» Obama continued. If confirmed by the Senate, Lew would assume the Cabinet-level post with the administration facing a deficit already exceeding $1 trillion for the first three quarters of the fiscal year. Current projections show unsustainably large deficits predicted for the coming decade, but the administration has not devised a plan to wrestle them under control, instead pinning its hopes on a bipartisan fiscal commission that many believe is doomed to election-year gridlock. -- SPA
