Raines resigns, will return to Fannie Mae
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Franklin D. Raines, director of the Office of Management and Budget for the past eighteen months, is returning to the private sector. Raines will leave OMB May 20 to become chairman of the board and chief executive officer of Fannie Mae in Washington. He had been vice chairman of Fannie Mae before taking the helm of OMB in September 1996.
Franklin D. Raines, director of the Office of Management and Budget for the past
eighteen months, is returning to the private sector.
Raines will leave OMB May 20 to become chairman of the board and chief executive
officer of Fannie Mae in Washington. He had been vice chairman of Fannie Mae before taking
the helm of OMB in September 1996.
Jacob J. Lew, who has been deputy director of OMB since August 1995, will replace
Raines.
President Clinton announced Raines' intention to resign and thanked him for his service
during early morning remarks April 14 on the South Lawn of the White House.
"He is the first budget director to draft and submit a balanced budget since Neil
Armstrong walked on the moon," Clinton said. "I regret his decision. Frank
Raines has been, in short, a brilliant OMB director."
Raines said, "It's been my privilege to lead the men and women of OMB as the 31st
director, and I'd like to thank them for helping me help you."
The OMB director supervises spending in agencies and manages a 500-employee agency that
helps the president prepare the $1.7 trillion federal budget.
As part of the job, the director must set and enforce policies for the use and purchase
of information technology. In the past year, agencies' year 2000 efforts have been a major
IT oversight priority for OMB.
Raines highlighted some changes he saw at OMB.
"We now purchase goods with the taxpayer in mind and invest in information
technology in a smarter, more effective way," he said.
Raines, 49, first joined Fannie Mae, formerly the Federal National Mortgage
Association, in 1991 and served for five years as its vice chairman.
The company was chartered by Congress to increase home ownership for low-, moderate-
and middle-income families.
Fannie Mae became a private company in 1968, when the government sold the last of its
stock.
Raines also was assistant director of the White House domestic policy staff from 1977
to 1978 and associate director for economics and government at OMB from 1978 to 1979. He
earned a bachelor's degree in government from Harvard University and a law degree from
Harvard Law School.
Lew became principal domestic policy adviser to the late House Speaker Thomas
"Tip" O'Neill Jr. in 1979.
Prior to becoming deputy director at OMB, Lew was the agency's executive associate
director and associate director for legislative affairs.
He served as special assistant to the president from 1993 to 1994 and was responsible
for AmeriCorps, Clinton's national service initiative, and helped write health care reform
legislation.
Lew, 43, earned a bachelor's degree from Harvard in 1978 and received a law degree from
Georgetown University Law School in 1983.
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