Bush Picks Bolten as Director of Office of Management and Budget

WASHINGTON – President Bush will name domestic policy adviser Josh Bolten (search) his budget chief, White House officials said.

Bush was announcing his selection in an Oval Office ceremony Thursday before flying to Texas for a long holiday weekend and meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi.

The move will thrust Bolten from the role of quiet but influential adviser in the West Wing to high-profile director of the Office of Management and Budget (search). There, he will be Bush's messenger in doling out money out to government agencies and to lawmakers who often complain that they need more.

He will also be charged with publicly defending the budget deficits that are ballooning during Bush's presidency.

Bolten, 48, will replace Mitch Daniels (search), who announced earlier this month he is leaving the White House to return to Indiana, where he will probably run for governor.

Bolten's appointment could come as early as Thursday.

Bolten is a former Goldman Sachs executive and was the White House legislative affairs director for part of the first term of Bush's father, President George H.W. Bush.

He currently is a deputy chief of staff for policy. It was not clear who would replace him.

He has enjoyed a place close to Bush since his presidential campaign, when he was a policy adviser. Bolten gave up part of his West Wing office to make way for the fledgling homeland security team in the days after the Sept. 11 attacks.

Bolten led a new "domestic consequences group" that met every morning after the attacks, wherever it could -- in the Roosevelt Room, or in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, where he will make his new office.

OMB's chief role is to assist the president in overseeing the preparation of the federal budget and to supervise its administration in executive branch agencies. In addition, OMB oversees and coordinates the administration's procurement, financial management, information, and regulatory policies.