Senate confirms Burwell as White House budget director

Sylvia Matthews Burwell. (AP)

The Senate has confirmed Sylvia Burwell, President Obama's nominee to run the White House budget office. The vote was 96-0.

Obama applauded the bipartisan vote. He said as his new director of the Office of Management and Budget, Burwell will help his administration continue efforts to replace recent across-the-board budget cuts. Obama said Burwell would be a "key member of my economic team."

Burwell is a former deputy budget director and top White House aide during the Clinton administration. More recently, she was president of the Wal-Mart Foundation and a top executive at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.