WASHINGTON – President Bush on Tuesday nominated former U.S. Rep. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, to head the White House budget office, as part of a broader effort to soothe relations with an increasingly restive Republican Congress.
But Bush also said his administration’s personnel shake-up will not include the ouster of Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, which some Republicans are advocating.
In a short news conference, Bush announced that Portman, the U.S. trade representative and a close ally of House GOP leaders, will be promoted to the White House inner circle as head of the Office of Management and Budget. White House advisers said Bush picked Portman in part to send a clear signal that he is serious about working more cooperatively with disgruntled GOP lawmakers.
Even as he suggested additional high-level staff changes are coming, a defiant Bush said he would not be bullied into firing trusted advisers such as Rumsfeld, an architect of the administration’s strategy for waging the Iraq war.
“I’m the decider, and I decide what is best. And what’s best is for Don Rumsfeld to remain as the secretary of defense,” Bush told reporters.
A few hours later, Rumsfeld held his own news conference and said he has not considered heeding the calls of several retired generals who believe the defense secretary has mismanaged the Iraq war and should be forced out.
The president also announced that Susan Schwab, Portman’s current deputy, will serve as U.S. trade representative.
Bush is in what aides described as the middle of a White House restructuring that will likely include the resignation of at least one Cabinet official and the infusion of new policy and communications strategists in coming weeks. New chief of staff Joshua Bolten has asked White House officials with plans to leave by year’s end to submit their resignations soon.
H. James Towey, head of the White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives, announced his resignation Tuesday to become president of St. Vincent College in Latrobe, Pa. A replacement was not named.
White House officials, who guard internal discussions over staff changes like state secrets, said the next round of resignations and appointments could come by next week.
Among those said to be contemplating leaving, Republican officials said, are Treasury Secretary John Snow and White House spokesman Scott McClellan.
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