Report: Elmendorf out as CBO director

Republicans won’t reappoint Doug Elmendorf as director of the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) next year, according to a Bloomberg News report.

{mosads}The news service cited a party aide and noted that Elmendorf’s current term expires Jan. 3. 

Leadership sources on Capitol Hill said they couldn’t confirm the story.

Some conservative groups have been pushing GOP leaders to replace Elmendorf for three key reasons. 

Their biggest issue is the CBO’s decision to rarely use “dynamic scoring,” which includes long-term budgetary impacts of legislation into their analyses. Republicans also say the CBO should be more transparent.

Finally, the GOP also wants to appoint its own director. Elmendorf was first brought on by Democrats. He served on the Council of Economic Advisers and the Treasury Department in former President Clinton’s administration and rejoined the Federal Reserve when George W. Bush was president. 

Elmendorf has led the CBO since January 2009 and was reappointed to a second term in 2011.

Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) and the new president pro tempore, Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), are responsible for appointing a new CBO director after recommendations made by the Budget panels, which will be chaired by Rep. Tom Price (R-Ga.) and Sen. Mike Enzi (R-Wyo.).