S. HRG. 112–28 

NOMINATION OF HEATHER A. 

HIGGINBOTTOM, OF THE DISTRICT OF 

COLUMBIA, TO BE THE DEPUTY DIRECTOR OF THE OFFICE OF MANAGEMENT AND BUDGET 

HEARING & EXECUTIVE 

MEETING 

BEFORE THE

COMMITTEE ON THE BUDGET 

UNITED STATES SENATE 

ONE HUNDRED TWELTH CONGRESS 

FIRST SESSION 

March 17, 2011—NOMINATION OF HEATHER A. HIGGINBOTTOM, OF 

THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, TO BE THE DEPUTY DIRECTOR OF 

THE OFFICE OF MANAGEMENT AND BUDGET 

April 5, 2011—EXECUTIVE BUSINESS MEETING ON THE NOMINATION 

OF HEATHER A. HIGGINBOTTOM, OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, TO BE THE DEPUTY DIRECTOR OF THE OFFICE OF MANAGEMENT AND BUDGET 

( 

Printed for the use of the Committee on the Budget 

TO BE THE DEPUTY DIRECTOR OF THE OFFICE OF MANAGEMENT AND BUDGET 

NOMINATION OF HEATHER A. HIGGINBOTTOM, OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, 

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WASHINGTON : 

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66–824pdf 2011

S. HRG. 112–28 

NOMINATION OF HEATHER A. 

HIGGINBOTTOM, OF THE DISTRICT OF 

COLUMBIA, TO BE THE DEPUTY DIRECTOR OF THE OFFICE OF MANAGEMENT AND BUDGET 

HEARING & EXECUTIVE 

MEETING 

BEFORE THE

COMMITTEE ON THE BUDGET 

UNITED STATES SENATE 

ONE HUNDRED TWELTH CONGRESS 

FIRST SESSION 

March 17, 2011—NOMINATION OF HEATHER A. HIGGINBOTTOM, OF 

THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, TO BE THE DEPUTY DIRECTOR OF 

THE OFFICE OF MANAGEMENT AND BUDGET 

April 5, 2011—EXECUTIVE BUSINESS MEETING ON THE NOMINATION 

OF HEATHER A. HIGGINBOTTOM, OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, TO BE THE DEPUTY DIRECTOR OF THE OFFICE OF MANAGEMENT AND BUDGET 

( 

COMMITTEE ON THE BUDGET 

KENT CONRAD, North Dakota, Chairman 

PATTY MURRAY, Washington 

RON WYDEN, Oregon 

BILL NELSON, Florida 

DEBBIE STABENOW, Michigan 

BENJAMIN L. CARDIN, Maryland 

BERNARD SANDERS, Vermont 

SHELDON WHITEHOUSE, Rhode Island 

MARK R. WARNER, Virginia 

JEFF MERKLEY, Oregon 

MARK BEGICH, Alaska 

CHRIS COONS, Delaware 

JEFF SESSIONS, Alabama 

CHARLES E. GRASSLEY, Iowa 

MICHAEL ENZI, Wyoming 

MIKE CRAPO, Idaho 

JOHN ENSIGN, Nevada 

JOHN CORNYN, Texas 

LINDSEY O. GRAHAM, South Carolina 

JOHN THUNE, South Dakato 

ROB PORTMAN, Ohio 

PAT TOOMEY, Pennsylvania 

RON JOHNSON, Wisconsin 

MARY NAYLOR, Majority Staff Director 

MARCUS PEACOCK, Minority Staff Director 

(II) 

iii 

C O N T E N T S 

HEARING 

Page 

March 17, 2011—Nomination of Heather A. Higginbottom, of the the District 

of Columbia, to be the Deputy Director of the Office of Management and 

Budget ................................................................................................................... 1 

STATEMENT BY COMMITTEE MEMBER 

Chairman Kent Conrad ........................................................................................... 1 

Ranking Member Sessions ...................................................................................... 12 

MEMBER AND WITNESS STATEMENTS 

John F. Kerry, A United States Senator from the State of Massachusetts ........ 2 

Heather A. Higginbottom, Nominee to be the Deputy Director of the Office 

of Management and Budget ................................................................................ 16 

ADDITIONAL MATERIALS SUBMITTED FOR THE RECORD 

Statement of Biographical and Financial Information Requested of Heather 

A. Higgingbottom to be the Deputy Director of the Office of Management 

and Budget ........................................................................................................... 27 

Pre-hearing questions and responses ..................................................................... 35 

Post-hearing questions and responses ................................................................... 51 

EXECUTIVE BUSINESS MEETING 

April 5, 2011—Executive Business Meeting on the Nomination of Heather 

A. Higginbottom to be the Deputy Director of the Office of Management 

and Budget ........................................................................................................... 61 

Committee Votes ...................................................................................................... 62 

(1) 

NOMINATION OF HEATHER A. 

HIGGINBOTTOM, OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, TO BE THE DEPUTY DIRECTOR OF 

THE OFFICE OF MANAGEMENT AND BUDGET 

THURSDAY, MARCH 17, 2011 

U.S. SENATE, COMMITTEE ON THE BUDGET, Washington, DC. 

The Committee met, pursuant to notice, at 2:02 p.m., in room 

SD–608, Dirksen Senate Office Building, Hon. Kent Conrad, Chairman of the Committee, presiding. 

Present: Senators Conrad, Whitehouse, Begich, and Sessions. 

Staff present: Mary Ann Naylor, Majority Staff Director; and 

Marcus Peacock, Minority Staff Director. 

OPENING STATEMENT OF CHAIRMAN CONRAD 

Chairman CONRAD. The hearing will come to order. Welcome to 

the Senate Budget Committee. Today we are considering the nomination of Heather Higginbottom to be Deputy Director of the Office 

of Management and Budget. 

I understand Senator Kerry is coming and is on his way. We will 

allow him to make remarks when he arrives. 

We are under a very tough time constraint today because of a series of things that are happening. There is a hearing that is on a 

sensitive matter that is going on right now, and I think Senator 

Kerry may actually have to leave here to go to that. There are also 

other negotiations that are going on this afternoon. And, of course, 

we are going to have votes on the CR this afternoon. So I hope that 

we are able to complete work on this nomination quickly. 

Given the fiscal and economic challenges facing the Nation, it is 

important that the President has his complete budget team in 

place. And as capable as he is—and he is capable—Director Lew 

needs to have a Deputy Director to help handle the workload and 

manage the day-to-day operations of the Office of Management and 

Budget. 

Ms. Higginbottom has served as Deputy Assistant to the President and Deputy Director of the Domestic Policy Council at the 

White House. She previously served as Policy Director for the 

Obama Presidential campaign and Legislative Director for Senator 

Kerry, among other positions. And there he is. Welcome, Senator 

Kerry. 

Senator KERRY. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 

2 

Chairman CONRAD. I think I will suspend at that point because 

I know that you are expected at an important briefing as soon as 

you discharge your responsibilities here. So why don’t you proceed? 

We are delighted to have you here in the Budget Committee. 

STATEMENT OF THE HONORABLE JOHN F. KERRY, A UNITED 

STATES SENATOR FROM THE STATE OF MASSACHUSETTS 

Senator KERRY. Thanks very much, Mr. Chairman. I am delighted to be here. And thank you for interrupting and allowing me 

to go forward. And, Senator Sessions, it is a pleasure to be here 

with you. And I thank you both for the critical work that you are 

engaged in, and we obviously look forward to working with you on 

that. 

Mr. Chairman, this is—you know, we use the words ‘‘privilege’’ 

and ‘‘pleasure’’ around here, but I have to find a new way to describe how that really is true on this occasion because Heather 

Higginbottom is very special, very capable, enormously impressive. 

I think you will find that in the course of your questions, which I 

certainly and I think she invites you to probe and have at it. I 

think you will sense her knowledge. 

But, you know, for a lot of us who have—you served, both of you, 

with our late good friend Ted Kennedy, and I had the privilege over 

all the years I was here with him to see how he took such pride 

as he found these enormously qualified staff folks who went on to 

leave the Senate and serve in various administrations spanning 

decades. And he told me once it was not just that he took pleasure 

out of it, but it was good for the Senate, good for all of us involved 

in Government, to have people at the other end of Pennsylvania 

Avenue, and in all the departments that we work with and count 

on to deliver to our citizens, to have people there who understand 

not just the issues but also understand how Capitol Hill works and 

what the needs are of Senators on both sides of the aisle, who 

knows the inside and the outside of the process and the pressures 

that we all face as we wrestle with very tough issues. And knowing 

that—I know you know this, both of you—is often the difference between getting it right or getting it wrong or getting nothing done 

at all. And more often it is the voice at the other end of the line 

who, if they did not agree with us or at least understand where we 

are coming from, a lot of things would not happen. 

So I now know what Ted Kennedy was talking about, why it 

made a difference to have people who have Hill experience. And I 

am particularly proud today to introduce Heather as the person 

both President Obama, who understands the tough choices he has 

to make, and Jack Lew, about whom I think everybody here would 

agree there are fewer people that we know who have more respect 

about budget issues than Jack Lew, about whom Heather is his 

choice to serve as his Deputy. That is a judgment he has made, and 

I think it is an important judgment. 

Now, I say this, you know, about Heather because she did not 

just serve here and she did not just understand the Senate. She 

really excelled here. About 12 years have now gone by since she 

first came to work for me in the Senate. And, frankly, she stood 

out for her public policy expertise in that period of time, and I 

would say to you she is sort of the definition of a policy wonk. She 

3 

understands the policy. She understands the issues. And that is 

critical in trying to fashion a budget that saves money, balances 

the budget, reduces the deficit, but still tries to keep many of our 

obligations intact. She was adept, and I will tell you, I would not 

have made her my Legislative Director if I did not have confidence 

that she understood those things. 

I was a deficit hawk. You may remember, Mr. Chairman, I came 

here as one of the first three Democrats to join with Fritz Hollings 

and Chris Dodd on Gramm-Rudman-Hollings, and it was heresy 

back then. And I worked together with you and others to try to get 

the balanced budget amendment. And Heather was central to all 

of that. She understands the choices we have to make. She did not 

come in here with a doctrinaire point of view about, you know, how 

we get things done. 

In her first assignment, she worked with Senator Gordon Smith 

on education reform very effectively. Later she worked with Senator Santorum and his staff in what we did together on the Workplace Religious Freedom Act. And ultimately she worked on and 

helped develop my proposal for a constitutional line-item veto, 

which, I might add, is now almost word for word the same proposal 

circulating and has about 40 cosponsors in the Senate today. 

So I saw her put aside ideology, I saw her attack waste, and I 

saw her do tough-minded budget reforms that were necessary. And 

she worked with me, Mr. Chairman, through seven budget cycles, 

and through it all I saw someone who knows how to look at the 

budget with a pretty critical eye. 

Now, she also has experience nationally in her experience in the 

White House in the last 2 years, which, incidentally, is part of 

what gives the President and Jack Lew the confidence to nominate 

her for this job at a tough time when they know they have got a 

tough job ahead of them. She has worked with Governors; she has 

worked with legislators; she has worked with mayors and Members 

of Congress. And she has learned how to balance looking at the 

budget and seeing the bottom line, but also seeing the people who 

are involved in these choices and understanding the programs 

themselves: health care, technology, poverty, education, infrastructure. She knows about all of them, and I think she will look at 

every single one of those priorities and ask whether they are working, whether the American taxpayer is getting their due. And I do 

not think Jack Lew could have chosen a stronger or more competent Deputy. 

Now, when he announced Heather’s nomination, he said that she 

was known for ‘‘dedication to sound public policy that makes a difference in people’s lives.’’ And, again, I think both the Chair and 

the Ranking Member would agree, this is a guy speaking who 

spent 7 years at OMB previously and 7 budgets in the Clinton administration, and we balanced the budget. We also had to turn 

deficits into surpluses, which is the challenge today. And if he has 

confidence in Heather, I think we should respect that together with 

the experience that she brings to the table here in the Senate. 

Now, another person who understands the ins and outs of this 

is the Senator from Ohio, Senator Rob Portman, and he was President Bush’s last OMB Director. And what did he say about Heather at the first hearing she had? He said, ‘‘One of the things that 

4 

underscores our qualifications is she helps to put the ‘M’ back into 

OMB.’’ It is the question of management that we also need to think 

about here. And in the 9 years that she worked for me, I knew her 

as an effective, tough manager who knew how to get the best out 

of the staff, knew how to direct things, knew how to make things 

happen on time, knew how to set objectives and goals, and followup 

on them. And I never, I do not think once ever had to say, ‘‘Why 

isn’t this done?’’ or ‘‘Why aren’t we moving on this?’’ She was always ahead of me, and she always gave her staff and other people 

the credit for doing it. So I think she is a leader, and I think she 

is prepared to take this on. 

Now, a couple of reservations I have heard from the previous 

hearing, some people have said—you know, it is amazing to me 

they ask this, but some question her age. But, look, it is not the 

age you measure; it is the experience you measure. You know, it 

is not how old you are; it is how smart you are and how capable 

you are. And the fact is that her age is zero departure from those 

who have done this job before, and even those here in the Senate 

who are charged with writing and voting on the budget, making 

the decisions. And I know a lot about that. I came here when I was 

40 years old, and, you know, two Republican freshman Senators 

now, Senator Rubio and Senator Lee, are just a few months older 

than Heather. They are going to be making the same decisions, and 

they have had less experience up here with the budget and with 

the process, obviously, than she has. 

So I am confident that, you know, if you just add Peter Orszag 

to that list, he was unanimously confirmed as the Director of the 

Office of Management and Budget in 2009 at the ripe old age of 

41 during the most serious fiscal crisis since the Great Depression. 

And Jack Lew was first confirmed as OMB Director during the 

Clinton administration back in 1998 at age 42, and his efforts, as 

I said, are legendary now. We know what he accomplished. 

So, Mr. Chairman and Mr. Ranking Member, Senator Sessions, 

I know that if you probe and look at this objectively, you will see 

that as she answers the questions, as you get to know her, you are 

going to find somebody who, as I have said, is smart and skilled 

and knowledgeable and not doctrinaire and not ideological, who is 

going to be practical and look at these issues in the way that she 

does. I am grateful that the 2 years in the West Wing have not 

dampened her desire to go take on a tough job and to be involved 

in this. So I am confident. Her roots are in the Senate. She will 

be responsive to all of us, and that, too, is the reason why I am 

very proud to recommend her swift confirmation as Deputy Director of the Office of Management and Budget. 

Chairman CONRAD. Thank you, Senator Kerry. That was a ringing endorsement and I think clearly heartfelt. You have confidence 

in her. I know Jack Lew does because Jack Lew called me yesterday and said, ‘‘This is a choice I made.’’ There are very few people 

I have higher regard for than Jack Lew. Jack Lew was in charge 

of the Office of Management and Budget the last time we balanced 

the budget, and not only balanced it but quit using Social Security 

money to fund the general operations of the Government. So he has 

got real credibility with me. And when he calls me and tells me 

5 

that Heather Higginbottom is his choice and gives me very clear 

reasons as to why, I put a lot of stock in that. 

Obviously, I put a lot of stock, when my colleague Senator Kerry, 

who has been a very strong ally of those who want to change the 

fiscal course for the country, tells me that this person has served 

him well and he has full confidence in her ability to discharge the 

responsibilities of this job. That makes an impression on me because I know the good judgment that John Kerry has brought to 

his responsibilities here. 

So we thank you, Senator Kerry. I know that that other briefing 

is now underway, and I know that you are expected to be there in 

your role as Chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee. So we 

will excuse you at this point and hope that we are able to join you 

at that briefing later. 

Senator KERRY. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I really appreciate 

your courtesies, both of you. Thank you. 

Chairman CONRAD. Thank you. 

I think we have heard that Ms. Higginbottom brings a broad 

knowledge of Federal policy and the operations of the Government 

with her. I am also pleased that she is a former member of the 

Senate family because my experience is that that matters in terms 

of responsiveness and the ability to communicate. So I look forward 

to hearing more from her on her background and her goals for 

OMB. 

As I have indicated, I know that Director Lew made this decision 

and chose this person because of the very special needs that he has 

in the agency. Several of our recent hearings have focused on the 

long-term budget crisis, so I want to begin today on a slightly different note by reviewing our current economic situation. 

I think it is important to remember how much the economy has 

improved over the last 2 years. I believe that it is clear that the 

Federal response to the recession and the financial crisis, including 

actions taken by both the Bush administration and the Obama administration, has successfully pulled the economy back from the 

brink. And I believe that deeply. I believe that history will record 

that that is indeed what has happened. 

Although we do not have the recovery running at the level of 

strength we would like, nonetheless we see a clear turnaround. In 

January of 2009, the economy was losing more than 800,000 private sector jobs a month. Private sector job growth returned in 

March of 2010, and now we have had 12 consecutive months of 

growth. Just last month, the economy gained 220,000 private sector 

jobs. Obviously, unemployment remains too high, but the turnaround in private sector job growth we have experienced is significant. 

6 

The next slide, if we can. Economic growth has also returned. In 

the fourth quarter of 2008, at the end of the Bush administration, 

the economy contracted by 6.8 percent. It was going full speed in 

reverse. Positive economic growth returned in the third quarter of 

2009, and we have now six consecutive corridors of growth. In the 

fourth quarter of 2010, we saw positive growth of 2.8 percent. And 

although credit is still tight for many small businesses, the crisis 

in the credit markets has subsided. 


66824.002
7 

This chart shows what is known as the TED spread. It is essentially a measure of the risk that banks see in lending to each other. 

You can see at the height of the economic crisis, in the fall of 2008, 

the TED spread went through the roof. Banks were largely unwilling to lend to each other. That spread has now returned to normal 

levels. 


66824.003
8 

In fact, at the height of the crisis, the TED spread was 9 times 

the normal level. In fact, it was one of the first tip-offs that we had 

that something very serious was occurring. 

We have also seen a dramatic rebound in the stock market. After 

falling to a low of 6,500 in March of 2009, the Dow has now risen 

back up to above 11,000. 


66824.004
9 

Two highly respected economists—Dr. Alan Blinder and Dr. 

Mark Zandi—completed a study last summer that measured the 

impact of Federal actions to shore up the economy, including both 

what the Federal Reserve has done as well as the fiscal policy actions taken by the Bush administration and the Obama administration. They looked at the effect of TARP and the stimulus. 

Here is a quote from their report. ‘‘We find’’—referencing the actions of the Federal Government—‘‘that its effects on real GDP, 

jobs, and inflation are huge and probably averted what could have 

been Great Depression 2.0. When all is said and done, the financial 

and fiscal policies will have cost taxpayers a substantial sum, but 


66824.005
10 

not nearly as much as most had feared and not nearly as much as 

if policymakers had not acted at all. If the comprehensive policy responses saved the economy from another depression, as we estimate, they were well worth their cost.’’ 

It is worth noting that this was not a partisan-driven conclusion. 

Dr. Zandi was an economic adviser to the McCain Presidential 

campaign. 

This chart shows that Dr. Blinder and Dr. Zandi’s estimate of the 

number of jobs we would have had without the Federal response 

would have been substantially less. It shows we would have had 

8.1 million fewer jobs in the second quarter of 2010 if we had not 

had the Federal response—the TARP and the stimulus. In fact, 

they say unemployment today, absent the Federal response, would 

be 15 percent. So I think it is clear that the actions taken at the 

end of the Bush administration and during the Obama administration played a critical role in helping to avert a financial crisis far 

worse than any we have seen since the Great Depression. I think 

those policies have been about right in the near term, and the 

steady economic recovery we have experienced demonstrates that. 


66824.006
11 

Where I have taken issue with the administration is on the 

longer term. I believe deeply that we must do more than what the 

administration has so far proposed to address the long-term fiscal 

challenge this country confronts. We are borrowing 40 cents of 

every dollar we spend. We cannot do that much longer. We are 

headed for a circumstance in which we will be adding $1 trillion 

to the gross debt of this country every year for the next 10 years. 

That cannot be our fiscal future. 

That is why I believe we need a bipartisan, compromise debt reduction plan of the size and scope proposed by the President’s own 


66824.007
12 

Fiscal Commission. The Fiscal Commission took a balanced approach that included every part of the Federal budget—mandatory 

spending, domestic spending, defense spending, and, yes, the revenue side—and came up with a plan to reduce the debt $4 trillion 

over the next 10 years. 

I am going to stop there because of the time constraints that we 

are under and ask Senator Sessions for his opening remarks. Then 

we will go to the witness for her comments, and then we will go 

to questions. 

I again thank Senator Sessions for accommodating this afternoon’s scheduling of a hearing given all of the other things that are 

occurring in the Senate today. Senator Sessions. 

OPENING STATEMENT OF SENATOR SESSIONS 

Senator SESSIONS. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 

I join our Chairman in welcoming you to the Committee today, 

Ms. Higginbottom, and we appreciate you, and Legislative Director 

is an important thing in a Senate office, and I am sure Senator 

Kerry has confidence in you in policy and Senate matters, or he 

would not have appointed you to it. But I do not understand that 

during that period of time you had direct responsibility over budget 

issues, nor was the Senator on the Budget Committee, I do not 

think, during that time. 

But you have been nominated for a critical position at a critical 

agency at a critical time. It just is. Right now we are on a dangerous path. We are borrowing 40 cents of every dollar. Our deficit 

this year is projected to be $1.65 trillion, the largest ever by any 

Nation in the world, and certainly the largest in our country. The 

amount of money we owe will be greater than the value of everything we produce in our economy. 

This crushing debt burdens growth. It undermines economic confidence and threatens our Nation with a severe debt crisis. We 

have been told that repeatedly. A study from economists Reinhart 

and Rogoff explained that when a Nation’s debt-to-GDP exceeds 90 

percent, GDP growth each year is a percentage point lower than it 

otherwise would have been. And when that growth is 2 percent, 2.5 

percent, a 1-percent reduction is very significant. Our debt is now 

over 90 percent and will reach 100 percent by September 30th. 

That means we could already be losing a million jobs a year as a 

result of 1-percent GDP loss. 

Week after week experts have testified before this Committee to 

sound the alarm. The co-chairs of the Deficit Commission, Erskine 

Bowles and Alan Simpson, declared that if the United States failed 

to curb our growing debt, the country would face ‘‘the most predictable economic crisis in its history.’’ 

Echoing Alan Greenspan, they said that such an event could 

occur relatively soon, in just 1 or 2 years—their testimony, not 

mine—if we do not take significant action. The effects of an event 

like that would be felt most severely by everyday working Americans and could easily be greater—we hope not—than the last financial crisis that we had. But even any kind of knocking us down into 

another recession would be damaging to this fragile growth path 

that we hope we can stay on. 

13 

Given these dangers, you can understand my concern that the 

President and Budget Director Lew, your potential boss, have presented the President’s budget as practically solving this situation. 

Both have said this budget allows us to live within our means, 

spend only what we take in, and begin paying down the debt. That 

is their words, the President’s words, Mr. Lew’s words. And I think 

to some degree you affirmed that in a previous hearing. 

Simply put, these claims are detached from reality, and they undermine efforts to tackle our growing debt danger. If a CEO made 

these statements to investors that his company was living within 

its means and paying down its debt and asked them to invest and 

people later found out that they were running massive deficits, do 

you think he would not be subject to liability? 

To confront these challenges, we need leadership and candor 

from the White House and from OMB. Sadly, both have been lacking. The President has yet to look the American people in the eye 

and explain the basic fact that we have run out of money and can 

no longer sustain this bloated Federal budget. Instead, he presents 

a budget that doubles our gross national debt in 10 years and increases spending year after year. And I am certain that tomorrow 

when CBO issues its analysis of the President’s plan, they will confirm that it contains hundreds of billions more in spending and 

debt than your OMB report has suggested—or the OMB report. 

So we need honest budgeting. We have got to have that, factsbased budgeting, not fantasy budgeting. Your testimony today, I 

hope, will not repeat the spin that we have seen from the White 

House so far. I cannot support any nominee to this position, especially in such a time as this, who is unable to discuss the budget 

with clarity and candor. There are some matters on which we can 

agree to disagree, of course. There will be some disagreements. But 

facts are facts, and there can be no debating that the President’s 

budget does not live within our means. 

I must admit I also have concerns about your lack of experience. 

On average, nominees for your post have had 6 or 7 years of professional experience in budget and finance. Many have had much 

more than that. You concede you do not have such a background. 

I will be interested to hear your explanation as to what qualifies 

you for the post and will keep an open mind on that. 

Our financial challenges are immense, but I am optimistic about 

the future. I know we can meet the challenges that are before us 

and put this country on the path to prosperity. We have got to get 

off the road of spending and borrowing and get on the road to a 

lean and productive Government that allows the private sector to 

grow and thrive. We need to reform our Tax Code that penalizes 

productivity, unlock domestic energy sources, keep energy prices 

down, remove the cloud of debt that is pulling down growth in our 

economy. 

America occupies an exceptional place in the history of the world, 

but if we continue down this path of spending and borrowing recklessly, we will leave America weakened and diminished. But if we 

rise to the challenge today, we will be stronger now and stronger 

tomorrow. 

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 

Chairman CONRAD. Thank you, Senator. 

14 

Under the rules of the Committee, the nominee is required to 

testify under oath, so at this point, if you will rise, I would like to 

swear you in. Do you swear that the testimony that you are about 

to give will be the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the 

truth, so help you God? 

Ms. HIGGINBOTTOM. I do. 

Chairman CONRAD. If asked to do so and if given reasonable notice, will you agree to appear before this Committee in the future 

and answer any questions that members of this Committee might 

have? 

Ms. HIGGINBOTTOM. Yes. 

Chairman CONRAD. I thank you for that. Please be seated. Welcome to the Senate Budget Committee and please proceed with 

your testimony. 

TESTIMONY OF HEATHER A. HIGGINBOTTOM, NOMINEE TO BE 

DEPUTY DIRECTOR, OFFICE OF MANAGEMENT AND BUDGET 

Ms. HIGGINBOTTOM. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, Ranking Member 

Sessions, members of the Committee. I am honored to come before 

you as President Obama’s nominee to be Deputy Director of the Office of Management and Budget. I would like to thank Senator 

Kerry for taking time from his very busy schedule to introduce me 

to the Committee today. As he mentioned, for over 7 years I had 

the privilege of serving in many capacities for Senator Kerry, and 

in many ways what I have learned about public service and Government I learned in this body and I learned from him. I am grateful for that, and I am confident that I would not be before the Committee today without the opportunities that that experience afforded me. 

I am also deeply grateful to President Obama not just for nominating me for the position, but also for the tremendous opportunity 

that he gave me when I joined his campaign as Policy Director over 

4 years ago. Over the course of the campaign and for the past 2 

years in the White House, I have had opportunities to contribute 

to the Nation in ways I never could have dreamed of. 

Mr. Chairman, the serious fiscal challenges facing the country 

make this an extraordinarily important and humbling time to be 

nominated to join the Office of Management and Budget. We have 

only recently turned the tide on the worst economic downturn in 

a generation, and once again the economy is growing and the private sector is creating jobs. 

The policies deployed to rescue the economy necessarily added to 

this deficit in the short term. As the economy strengthens, it is 

time to make the tough choices necessary to place the country on 

a responsible fiscal path and focus on our long-term challenges. 

This means cutting where we can, making the investments necessary to foster continued growth and job creation, and for our 

long-term competitiveness. It also means managing the resources of 

the Federal Government in a way that gets the most from every 

taxpayer dollar, cuts waste, boosts efficiency and effectiveness, and 

gives all Americans the means to see how their money is being 

spent and to hold their Government accountable for its actions. 

The President’s budget is an articulation of his agenda, which requires making choices among competing interests within the conVerDate Aug 31 2005 10:48 Oct 25, 2011 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00020 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6601 C:\DOCS\66824.TXT TISH
15 

straints of a recovering economy and with the best interest of the 

taxpayer in mind. In each position I have held, as Senator Kerry’s 

Legislative Director, managing policy in two Presidential campaigns, and for 2 years in the White House Domestic Policy Council, I have worked on a wide range of areas from economic policy 

to national security to domestic policy, and I have had to work 

through the budgetary implications of each. I have guided processes that made choices about what we could afford, what programs and initiatives were the most cost-effective and how to implement them. 

If I am fortunate enough to be confirmed, I will bring this experience developing policy within our budgetary constraints to OMB in 

the Deputy Director role. 

If confirmed, I will work closely with the Director, Jack Lew, and 

the Deputy Director for Management and Chief Performance Officer, Jeffrey Zients, to help our Government run as efficiently and 

effectively as possible. I also look forward to working with all of 

you on this shared goal, if confirmed. 

I thank you for your consideration, and I would be happy to answer any questions. 

[The prepared statement of Ms. Higginbottom follows:] 

16 

Chairman CONRAD. Thank you. Thank you for that statement, 

and thanks for your willingness to serve. Thanks for your prior 

service both in the Senate and in the White House. 


66824.033 66824.034
17 

I would like to begin by asking you about your service to Senator 

Kerry as his Legislative Director. In that position were you involved in overseeing his work on budget issues and budget concerns? 

Ms. HIGGINBOTTOM. In the role of Legislative Director for Senator Kerry, I had responsibility for managing his entire legislative 

agenda. That included the development of his proposals, his work 

relating to the budget, as well as his appropriations work. As I developed various policy proposals and managed that process, we 

worked through the cost implications and how to pay for those proposals in addition to the budget and appropriations work. 

Chairman CONRAD. I can just say, my Legislative Director has 

been with me now almost 20 years, is involved in every serious deliberation that involves my responsibility on this committee. I 

think that is typically the way it is done here, that a Legislative 

Director is involved in all of the major issues that a Senator is involved in. 

Let me ask you, with respect to your positions at the White 

House as Deputy Assistant to the President and Deputy Director 

of the Domestic Policy Council, I am much less familiar with how 

the Domestic Policy Council functions, but I would ask you, were 

you involved in budget issues there as the Deputy Director? 

Ms. HIGGINBOTTOM. Yes. For the past 2 years, as a member of 

the Domestic Policy Council and a senior member there, we worked 

very, very closely with OMB in the development of the President’s 

budget, specifically on the domestic agenda. We worked on the education reforms and many of the proposals from the very first days 

of the administration. 

Chairman CONRAD. And Director Lew tells me that he personally 

selected you to be his Deputy, is that your understanding? 

Ms. HIGGINBOTTOM. Yes, that is my understanding. 

Chairman CONRAD. And can you tell us why you think Director 

Lew thought you would be especially valuable to him? 

Ms. HIGGINBOTTOM. Yes. When I spoke to the Director about this 

position, this opportunity, he explained that there were essentially 

three major functions that he would expect a deputy to perform. 

The first would be working closely with him to develop the President’s annual budget. The second is internal management of OMB. 

And the third is to lead and coordinate OMB’s participation in the 

policy-making process, both in the Executive Office of the President 

as well as with the agencies. It is very important that OMB’s equities and sensibilities are part of those conversations and that is 

part of the experience that he thought I would contribute to. 

He knows that the experience that I have had throughout over 

a decade working in different policy positions in the legislative and 

the executive branch have given me a breadth of experience on policy that is suitable to the task at OMB, which is to work to assemble the President’s budget, and in those varied experiences I have 

had the opportunity to make tradeoffs and decisions and choices 

about what we need to do, what we need to propose, and how to 

pay for it. 

Chairman CONRAD. I would just say, I have now looked at previous Deputies and their backgrounds. Mr. McMillin served from 

July of 2006 to January of 2009. He had been an advisor to the 

18 

White House Chief of Staff. He had been on the Senate Banking 

Committee staff. 

Mr. Kaplan, who served as OMB Deputy Director, had been Special Assistant to the President, much as you have been, in the Office of the Chief of Staff and had been a policy advisor to the BushCheney campaign, just as you were an advisor to the Obama campaign, and before that had been actually a law clerk for Justices 

at the Supreme Court. 

And Nancy Dorn, who was a previous Deputy Director, had 

worked in legislative affairs for Vice President Cheney, was a defense and foreign policy advisor to Speaker Hastert, had been a lobbyist here in Washington and a member of the Inter-American 

Bank Foundation and an Assistant Secretary of the Army. 

So it is interesting, really, how close your background matches 

the backgrounds of three previous Deputy Directors of the Office of 

Management and Budget. 

We have just been advised that votes may start as early as 2:45, 

so I am going to cut my questioning short. We will do 7-minute 

rounds. We will go to Senator Sessions and then Senator 

Whitehouse and whatever other members appear. 

Senator Sessions? 

Senator SESSIONS. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 

Ms. Higginbottom, let me first ask you, you would agree, I am 

sure, that OMB must be honest with the American people and honest with Congress when it produces its reports and its analysis and 

its statements that it makes publicly, would you not? 

Ms. HIGGINBOTTOM. Yes, I would. 

Senator SESSIONS. Let me ask you this. Maybe we can ask you 

to look at this chart. Your Director, Mr. Lew, has used the same 

phrase. This happens to be President Obama’s statement. ‘‘We will 

not be adding more to the debt.’’ He is referring to this budget, the 

one that he has submitted to us, and he has stated to the American 

people, and Mr. Lew has stated to the American people, that we 

will not be adding more to the debt. Is that a correct statement or 

not? 

Ms. HIGGINBOTTOM. What both the Director and the President 

are referring to is the idea—— 

Senator SESSIONS. No, I ask you, heard by the American people, 

fairly heard by the American people, is that a true statement or 

not? 

Ms. HIGGINBOTTOM. I cannot express how the American people 

would hear that. What I can say is that, of course, the interest payments on the debt will add to the debt. The point that both the 

President and the Director have made is that this budget takes 

steps—— 

Senator SESSIONS. I do not know what you are talking about, interest payment will be added to the debt. President Obama and 

Mr. Lew have looked the American people in the eye without any 

qualifications, without talking about interest payments, and said, 

‘‘We will not be adding more to the national debt.’’ So you are 

asked to assume this important role. I ask you if you stand by that 

and if you believe that is accurate. 

Ms. HIGGINBOTTOM. Senator, I would like to explain what they 

are referring to, which is a—— 

19 

Senator SESSIONS. Well—— 

Chairman CONRAD. Let us let her—— 

Ms. HIGGINBOTTOM. Senator—— 

Chairman CONRAD. We have got to be fair here. 

Senator SESSIONS. I will ask—— 

Chairman CONRAD. No, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. You have 

asked her a question. She has a right to answer the question. We 

are not going to have this committee function—we are not going to 

ask people questions and not let them answer the question. 

Ms. HIGGINBOTTOM. Both the President and the Director are referring to an effort to ensure that we pay for the programs, the government’s operating costs, as they are proposed. That does not— 

that is a concept of primary balance, which I know you and the Director have discussed. That notion does not speak to the interest 

payments. When the President came to office, there was a $1.3 trillion deficit. We have to borrow money to pay on that deficit. But 

what that statement refers to is an effort to get our—— 

Senator SESSIONS. Well, could I ask you this question. Did Mr. 

Lew or the President of the United States, when they made that 

statement, ‘‘We will not be adding to the debt,’’ did they say, by the 

way, American people, what we really mean is some arcane idea 

about not counting interest payments that the United States must 

make as part of our debt? Did they say that? 

Ms. HIGGINBOTTOM. I am not sure exactly what they did say. I 

would—— 

Senator SESSIONS. Well, if they did not say that, would that be 

an accurate statement? 

Ms. HIGGINBOTTOM. The interest costs on the debt add to the— 

the interests costs on what we are borrowing on our deficit add to 

the debt. 

Senator SESSIONS. Well, you are correct, and Mr. Geithner acknowledged that after Mr. Lew stood by his statement in this committee, after the President’s own Press Secretary, when asked how 

could he make such a statement, did he stand by it, said, ‘‘Absolutely.’’ So to me, it is—what about the statement that Mr. Lew 

made that it pays down our debt? 

Ms. HIGGINBOTTOM. I am sorry, which statement? 

Senator SESSIONS. That it pays down our debt, this budget that 

has just been—— 

Ms. HIGGINBOTTOM. I am not familiar with that statement. I 

think what is clear about the—— 

Senator SESSIONS. Well, if he said that, would that be accurate 

or not? 

Ms. HIGGINBOTTOM. The fiscal year 2012 budget stabilizes the 

debt as a percentage of the economy. It is what we have referred 

to, the President has referred to as a down-payment or a first step 

in being able to tackle the long-term issue and really paying down 

the debt. 

Senator SESSIONS. Well, that is not what he said. He said we will 

not be adding more to the national debt. 

Look at that chart up there. That is from the President’s budget 

numbers. Is there a single year in which we do not add more to 

the debt? 

Ms. HIGGINBOTTOM. No. 

20 

Senator SESSIONS. It goes up and it doubles in 10 years, does it 

not? 

Ms. HIGGINBOTTOM. As I mentioned, when the President took office, there was a $1.3 trillion deficit. Payments on those are quite 

expensive and that adds to our debt. The concept both the President and the Director are referring to is achieving a point of balance with the programs that we are proposing and paying. That is 

a milestone. That is not an end point. And the President’s budget 

makes very clear that we need to go far beyond that to really tackle 

our long-term deficit and debt issues. 

Senator SESSIONS. So you are saying that, well, what the President really meant but what he did not say is that in 1 year or so, 

you calculate that if you do not count the interest, which is about 

the first thing you have to pay on your business debt in responsibility of payments, that if we do not count interest, then we can 

tell the American people we are not adding to our debt. Do you 

think that is a legitimate way to discuss with the American people 

the debt crisis we now face? 

Ms. HIGGINBOTTOM. Senator, I think if we are trying to lay a responsible fiscal path coming out of this severe economic downturn, 

one of the first things we have to do is stop digging into the hole 

with the programs that we are proposing and funding. 

Senator SESSIONS. Does this budget do that? 

Ms. HIGGINBOTTOM. The budget provides a path to ensure that 

the programs that are proposed—— 

Senator SESSIONS. Does the budget—I do not know what a path 

means. I am saying, within 10 years, does it do what you said? 

Ms. HIGGINBOTTOM. Does it not add to the debt? 

Senator SESSIONS. You said it puts us on a path to—— 

Ms. HIGGINBOTTOM. Puts us on a path to stabilize our debt as a 

percentage of the economy, which is a very important first step to 

eventually being able to pay it down, which is the large task in 

front of us. And that is not just what I have said. Both the Director 

and the President have said this is a down-payment and a first 

step that we need to take. 

Senator SESSIONS. Well, let us take the last 3 years of the President’s 10-year budget. Do the deficits go down those years, eight, 

nine, and ten, or does the annual deficit go up in eight, nine, and 

ten? 

Ms. HIGGINBOTTOM. I do not have the deficit table in front of me, 

but I—— 

Senator SESSIONS. Well, it is an important matter. I know what 

they basically say. 

Ms. HIGGINBOTTOM. The President’s budget reduces the deficit, 

takes it to about $600 billion and stabilizes it. But as we have 

said—— 

Senator SESSIONS. No, it does not stabilize it. In years eight, 

nine, and ten, it goes up every year and reaches approximately 

$900 billion from $600 billion as the low point in the entire 10 

years. The highest debt Bush ever had was $450 billion. 

Ms. HIGGINBOTTOM. And—— 

Senator SESSIONS. You do not have a single year in which the deficit falls below $600 billion, do you, based on the budget that 

has been submitted here? 

21 

Ms. HIGGINBOTTOM. That is correct, and Senator, both the President and the Director, in discussing this budget, have talked repeatedly about these being the first steps that we need to take and 

that we need to come together in a bipartisan fashion, as the 

Chairman and some of his colleagues are doing, to really look at 

these longer-term issues. So this is not the end of the road. It is 

a first step. The President’s budget is a first step in the budget 

process. 

Senator SESSIONS. Well, thank you very much, and thank you, 

Mr. Chairman. I just believe that we are off track here with the 

language that we are hearing. I respected Mr. Lew and was 

pleased to support him, thought he would do fine, but I have been 

stunned by his public statements about the debt and my confidence 

in him has been reduced. Thank you. 

Chairman CONRAD. Let me just say on this question of primary 

balance, because this is, frankly, something that did not start with 

the administration and actually started in the economics community, and it is this notion that if you get down to a deficit less than 

3 percent of GDP, that you stabilize the debt. The debt is then no 

longer growing as a share of the GDP. And it is a way of balancing 

current expenditures against current income, not counting debt 

service. 

I happen to agree with you that the use of this language, and I 

know economists like it because they like the idea of stabilizing the 

debt so that it is not growing as a share of GDP, and I understand 

the concept of matching current expenditures and current income. 

That is the notion of primary balance. It does not count previous 

debt service. 

The trouble I have with it, and I think the trouble the Ranking 

Member has with it, is it can lead to the American people maybe 

hearing this and concluding that we have got the problem under 

control. And I think the point that the Ranking Member is making, 

and it is a point that I have made, is that the debt continues to 

grow. 

It is true, it is stabilized as a share of GDP, and that is really 

what Director Lew was talking about, I think what the President 

was talking about. It is true they are matching current expenditures with current income, not counting previous debt service. But 

I think the trouble that I have, and I cannot speak for the Ranking 

Member, but from his comments, I think the problem he has, is 

that it might lead some casually listening to the conversation to 

conclude we have solved the problem, and I think you know, I 

think the President knows, I know for sure Jack Lew knows the 

problem is not solved. 

Senator SESSIONS. Could I just say that five different fact check 

organizations have found that statement to be false, which it plainly is. Qualified in the fashion that the Chairman said, it might be 

a legitimate argument to make, but unqualified is misleading to 

the American people and should never be repeated. 

Ms. HIGGINBOTTOM. And if I could, I think it is important that 

we have a very honest conversation with the American people 

about what the large task ahead of us is and what it is going to 

entail. I think that is a very important point. 

Chairman CONRAD. Senator Whitehouse? 

22 

Senator WHITEHOUSE. Thank you very much. 

I am glad to have you here, Ms. Higginbottom. 

Ms. HIGGINBOTTOM. Thank you. 

Senator WHITEHOUSE. I want to make one comment, which is 

that we in the—I have been in a lot of budget hearings recently 

and I have heard nearly relentless call from the other side of the 

aisle for more engagement by the White House with us in the 

budget process. There has been no criticism that the White House 

is too engaged with the Senate in the budget process. It is virtually 

a unanimous chorus that the White House and OMB are not engaged enough with the Senate in this budget discussion. 

And so along comes the Director of the Office of Management 

and Budget and he chooses for his deputy somebody who would 

be—who is ideally situated to bridge that gap between the White 

House Office of Management and Budget, where you will be, and 

the Senate, where you have served so long. And the criticism that 

I have detected of the propriety, I guess, of your selection for this 

position seems to me to be what do you not—you know, it is like, 

what part of yes did you not like? 

As far as what I can tell, what you bring to this is the message 

to us, yes, we hear you. Yes, we want to be more engaged, and we 

particularly want to be more engaged with the Senate. I think the 

House might have a grievance because of your Senate background, 

but I would have expected my colleagues on the Senate to welcome 

your appointment and to see your really immense qualifications as 

ones that track precisely in the direction that they want the OMB 

to go, which is higher, better, and more detailed coordination with 

the Senate. 

So I am a little bit mystified at some of the comments that I 

have heard, but as far as I can tell, I want to let you know that 

to the extent that the Director’s position in selecting you reflected 

a desire for that kind of more intense relationship with the Senate 

and with this committee, I applaud it and I think it is a great step. 

You have a wonderful reputation in the Senate, so I am delighted 

to add that to the equation. 

Chairman CONRAD. Senator, could I interrupt—— 

Senator WHITEHOUSE. Please. 

Chairman CONRAD [continuing]. To just advise the other members, there are now 10 minutes left on a vote. So what I would propose is that we divide up—you have got about 4 minutes remaining. If we could do your 4 minutes and then go to Senator Begich, 

then we would be able to close the hearing and go to the vote. 

Senator WHITEHOUSE. I can probably be less than 4 minutes, because the other point that I wanted to make is that—let me frame 

this as a question. Is there a way to separate out in government 

budget choices from policy choices? Is there such a thing as a budget choice that does not have a policy impact or consequence? 

Ms. HIGGINBOTTOM. Thank you, Senator. In my experience and 

in my estimation, the answer is no. When you look at the series 

of decisions that led to taking us from the surplus to the deficit 

that occurred over the last decade or so, those are a series of policy 

choices about what we are paying for and how to do it. 

The path forward, dealing with our long-term fiscal challenges is 

going to require a set of decisions about policies, how we are going 

23 

to address entitlements, how we are going to address spending, 

what the programs will look like, how they can be made more efficient and effective. 

So I would agree with the premise of your question that these 

are very interrelated, and I think that when the Director approached me about this position, it was along those lines that he 

thought that my experience was well suited to that. 

Senator WHITEHOUSE. And as some of my colleagues have said, 

these are not ordinary times. These are extraordinary times from 

a budget point of view, which means that we can expect extraordinary policy consequences from the decisions we make. So, for instance, if we make the policy choice to eliminate Planned Parenthood, to eliminate the Americorps program, to eliminate TIGER 

grants, to cut the heck out of the Head Start program, but to preserve every corporate tax loophole on the books, it is important to 

evaluate that choice as a policy choice, is it not? 

Ms. HIGGINBOTTOM. It is, indeed, and the President’s proposal for 

freezing non-security discretionary spending is not an across-theboard cut for the reasons that you articulated. It is important that 

we go through and learn what we can live with and what we can 

cut. 

Senator WHITEHOUSE. Let me close out with one point that the 

Chairman has heard me make in every hearing that we have had, 

and that is that if we are going to solve our health care problem, 

we are going to have to do it as a systemic solution in health care. 

It is not just a government program problem. It is a health care 

system problem that affects both government programs and private 

companies and insurers who are seeing the same increases from 

the underlying problem in the health care system. 

And I applaud the fact that you have this policy background because people who come at this only from a budget background, take 

a look at the delivery system reform piece of the equation, look to 

the fact that OMB and CBO cannot, because of its nature, put an 

instant dollar calculation on it and say it saves X, and then they 

move on to other things. And I think it is a blindness in the budget 

mindset that is really dangerous as we deal with our health care 

problem, and I think you, having the broader policy mindset and 

understanding that some things are worth the trip, even if you are 

not sure when various benchmarks will be made and when those 

enormous prospective savings can be realized, is still worth the policy emphasis and the necessary budget emphasis to support it. 

So I am here to say that I think you are the right person at the 

right time in order to have the right relationship between this committee and this body with the White House as we try to get to the 

right policies for the American people in this budget discussion. I 

thank you for your willingness to serve. 

Ms. HIGGINBOTTOM. Thank you, Senator. 

Chairman CONRAD. Senator Begich? 

Senator BEGICH. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. I will try 

to be brief, too, because I know we have these votes. 

First off, thank you very much for your willingness to serve. My 

philosophy is fairly simple when it comes to executive appointments. I am a former mayor. I had to appoint people and go 

through a process, but I also served on a legislative body, in the 

24 

local city council for nine-and-a-half years, and my view has always 

been, even when I maybe disagreed philosophically with the person 

who was at that time a mayor and I was an assembly member, 

they had the choice to pick their team. They live and die by that 

choice. 

Now, that is how I look at it, so however you move forward in 

a sense of hopefully you will be appointed to this position and we 

are going to hold you accountable, I will probably have a lot to say, 

especially to OMB, because I think they are sometimes confused on 

what Alaska is about and I sometimes wonder if they know that 

Alaska is part of the United States, so we will have those conversations. 

But to Senator Whitehouse’s comment, in all due respect to my 

colleague earlier who has left, I am not mystified what is going on. 

I may be new here, but I am not lost on what is going on here. 

They do not necessarily like who you worked for. They do not like 

the policies of the OMB Director. They do not like the President. 

I can go through the shopping list. And you are the victim today. 

And I appreciate the Chairman kind of bringing it back to cordial 

commentary rather than interrupting you all the time on your attempting to try to answer the questions. 

I would encourage my colleague who had left earlier, if he has 

an issue with Jack Lew’s comment, he should call Jack Lew. That 

is who could probably answer his question, rather than putting you 

through that. But you did a good job. 

I know some, and I have heard the buzz words before, because 

as someone who entered the public service at a very young age, 

serving for a mayor at the age of 20 and then being elected to the 

city council at 26, I know when they use the words, ‘‘experience’’ 

is a buzz word for age. I understand that. It is a code word. 

If there is anything this government needs more of, people that 

are younger generation and understand what the heck is going on. 

So I truly appreciate that you are part of this OMB team, because 

I sometimes think that folks that have been here way too long in 

the sense of the bureaucracy and also people who have many, 

many, many decades in government service—no disrespect to 

them—they need some new blood in there to shake it up. And so 

I appreciate your willingness, again, to serve. 

My question is just a real simple one, which probably is not an 

easy answer, and that is my frustration with these stop-gap measures of funding, which again in about 3 minutes or so we will be 

voting on them, I think these are appalling, this is the way we operate in a three-plus-trillion-dollar budget. But I am curious, do 

you have any thoughts of what you feel is a way, not the political 

way, but how you can make it easier for us to do our job to really 

help move this system a little bit faster? 

Ms. HIGGINBOTTOM. Well, first, Senator, thank you very much for 

your comments. 

With respect to the process that is underway now for closing out 

fiscal year 2011 funding, I think there are steps that, if the regular 

order is followed and in a regular year, can really be very effective. 

One of the reasons why I am excited to serve this President, but 

specifically with Director Lew, is because he is very deft and expeVerDate Aug 31 2005 10:48 Oct 25, 2011 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00030 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6601 C:\DOCS\66824.TXT TISH
25 

rienced at the budget process from the executive branch perspective. 

The President’s budget is the first step. This committee, the 

House, as well, will lay out theirs. And if we follow that process 

and work and have real dialog and discussion, I think we can get 

to a place where we are not simply passing short-term spending 

bills and have a more comprehensive and serious look at the fiscal 

picture. 

Senator BEGICH. Thank you very much. 

Mr. Chairman, I just want to say, I think the applicant has great 

qualifications. You will hear more from me. I am hoping that you 

will get appointed. I know there is a lot of information that was 

put on earlier, you know, what debt or deficit we started this fiscal 

year with. I think there was a few hundred million my colleague 

was off when he said 400. I think that President Bush’s actually 

last budget proposal was over a trillion dollars of deficit spending. 

People get a little foggy on the numbers around here because it is 

good spin. 

But I hope when you come forward, that we work on the numbers in a forthright way. It sounds like you will. And when we disagree, we disagree, but hopefully we will move through this together as a country to deal with these deficit issues. Thank you 

very much. 

Ms. HIGGINBOTTOM. Thank you, Senator. 

Chairman CONRAD. I thank the Senator. 

We only have about 2 minutes left on the vote, so we are going 

to close the hearing. 

First of all, let me say I intend to fully and strongly support your 

nomination. I believe you are fully qualified for this job. I note on 

this question of age, I was 38 years old when I was elected to the 

U.S. Senate, served on this committee. So age—I look back at others who have served in that position, in fact, the ones who ran the 

agency were in their early 40’s. So I do not think that is the issue. 

Look, the issue for all of us is our country is in the ditch. We 

can debate all day and all night who put us there. I have got a 

view, a very strong view about who is responsible, and it is not this 

current President. This current President inherited this disaster. 

There can be no question about that. If we want to get into a factual debate about what this President inherited, it is as clear as 

a bell. He inherited a country that was on the precipice of a financial collapse. That is what he inherited. And thank God he and others have taken the steps, and I would also credit the previous administration at the end of the administration for the steps that 

they took to prevent a collapse. 

With that, we thank you, and the hearing will stand adjourned. 

Ms. HIGGINBOTTOM. Thank you. 

[Whereupon, at 3 p.m., the committee was adjourned.] 

(27) 

UNITED STATES SENATE

COMMITTEE ON THE BUDGET

ROOM SD–624

(202) 224–0642

WASHINGTON, DC 20510–6250

STATEMENT OF BIOGRAPHICAL AND FINANCIAL 

INFORMATION REQUESTED OF PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEES 

A. BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION 

1. Name: Heather A. Higginbottom 

2. Position to which nominated: Deputy Director Office of Management and 

Budget 

3. Date of nomination: January 26, 2011 

4. Address: (Redacted) 

5. Date and place of birth: July 15, 1972; Binghamton, NY 

6. Martial status: Single 

7. Names and ages of children: N/A 

8. Education: 

Secondary: Chenango Valley Jr. Sr. High School, Binghamton, NY, June 1990 

Undergraduate: University of Rochester, Rochester, NY, 1990–1994, B.A. in Political 

Science, May 1994 

Graduate: George Washington University, Washington, DC, 1997–1999, MPP, May 

1999 

9. Employment Record: 

• Transportation Research Board, National Research Council, Administrative Assistant, Washington, DC November 1999–June 1995 

• Communitites In Schools, Government Relations Assistant, Alexandria, VA, June 

1995–July 1997 

• Office of Senator John Kerry, Legislative Assistant, Deputy Legislative Director, 

Legislative Director, Washington, DC, July 1999–March 2004; November 2004–May 

2005; January 2006–February 2007 

28 

• John Kerry for President, Deputy Policy Director, Washington, DC April 2003– 

November 2004 

• American Security Project, Executive Director, Washington, DC, April 2005–February 2006 

• Obama for America, Policy Director, Chicago, IL, February 2007–November 2008 

• Obama Presidential Transition Team, Staff Secretary, Washington, DC, November 2008–January 2009 

• The White House, Deputy Assistant to the President and Deputy Director of the 

Domestic Policy Council, Washington, DC, January 2009–Present 

10. Government Experience: List any advisory, consultative, honorary or other 

part-time service or positions with Federal, State, or local governments, other than 

those listed above. 

None. 

11. Business relationships: List all positions currently or formerly held as an officer, director, trustee, partner, proprietor, agent, representative, or consultant of any 

corporation, company, firm, partnership, or other business enterprise, educational or 

other institution. 

American Security Project, Executive Director, Washington, DC, April 2005–February 2006 

12. Memberships: List all memberships and office currently or formerly held in 

professional, business, fraternal, scholarly, civic, public, charitable and other organizations. 

• Platform Drafting Committee, Democratic National Committee, Member 2008 

13. Political affiliations and activities: 

(a) List all offices with a political party which you have held or any public office 

for which you been a candidate. 

None, except for positions held in connection with political campaigns as described 

below. 

(b) List all memberships and offices held in and services rendered to all political 

parties or election committees during the last 10 years. 

John Kerry for President, Deputy Policy Director, Washington, DC April 2003–November 2004 

Platform Drafting Committee, Democratic National Committee, Member 2008 

Obama for America, Policy Director, Chicago, IL, February 2007–November 2008 

(c) Itemize all political contributions to any individual, campaign organization, political party, political action committee, or similar entity of $50 or more for the past 

5 years. 

$401 to Obama for America in 2008 

14. Honors and awards: 

• University Fellowship from George Washington University that covered graduate 

school tution and provided a stipend for expenses. 

15. Published writings: 

• The White House blog, ‘‘Taking America from #12 to #1’’, 7/23/10, http:// 

whitehouse.gov/blog/2010/07/23/taking-america-12-1 

• The White House blog, ‘‘Ensuring Your Success’’, 9/27/10, http:// 

www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2010/09/27/ensuring-your-success 

• The White House blog, ‘‘The Results are In.’’ 4/30/10, http://whitehouse.gov/blog/ 

2010/04/30/results-are 

• The White House blog, ‘‘Race to the Top High School Commencement Challenge,’’ 

3/4/10, http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog.2010/03/04/race-top-high-school-commencement-challenge 

16. Speeches: 

• Remarks about Obama Administration’s education policy agenda at Board Meeting Dinner of Communities In Schools, 5/14/09 

• Commencement address, Political Science degree ceremony, University of Rochester, 5/17/09 

29 

• Remarks on child welfare to Every Child Matters conference on child welfare, 10/ 

22/09 

• Remarks at conference on Promise Neighborhoods, 11/9/09 

• Remarks about Obama Administration Domestic Policy Council agenda to 

Grantmakers Income Security Taskforce and Grantmakers for Childrem, Youth, and 

Families 2/25/10 

• Remarks to Voice for America’s Children national conference, 6/25/10 

• Remarks to First Focus Children’s Budget conference, 7/14/10 

• Remarks at Department of Education conference on Promise Neighborhoods, 11/ 

8/10 

Additionally, I made the following informal remarks in the last 5 years. 

• Heather Higginbottom Reacts to the Citizen’s Briefing Book http://youtube.com/ 

watch?v=L6Vtsy5kWA8, 1/13/09 

• Open for Questions: The State of the Union http://youtube.com/ 

watch?v=3SF8bSbHD4M. 1/27/09 

• Remarks about Obama Administration Domestic Policy Council (DPC) policy 

agenda at White House briefing of American Hotel and Lodging Association, 3/16/ 

09 

• Remarks about DPC policy agenda to the Children’s Leadership Council, 4/2/09 

• Remarks about DPC policy agenda at White House briefing of Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society 

• Remarks about DPC policy agenda at White House briefing of National Caucus 

of Hispanic State Legislators, 4/24/09 

• Remarks to high school students about professional career path, 10/23/09 

• Remarks at dinner honoring inductees into Chenango Valley High School Hall 

of Fame, 10/24/09 

• Remarks about immigration reform at White House briefing of Irish American 

organizations, 1/15/10 

• Open for Questions: More Questions from You Tube http://www.whitehouse.gov/ 

photos-and-video/video/open-questions-more-questions-you-tube, 2/5/10 

• 2/5/10 White House: Open for Questions via YouTube Part 1 of 4 http:// 

www.youtube.com/watch?v=GcqTpJ16b78, 2/5/2010 

• Remarks to student in the YouthBuild program, 3/24/10 

• Remarks at closing of White House summit on Community Colleges, 10/5/10 

• How the President Stays in Touch with Young People http://www.mtv.com/videos/ 

news/583083/how-president-obama-stays-connected-with-young-people.jhtml#id=1649327, 10/13/10 

• Remarks at reception for winners of Promise Neighborhoods planning grants, 11/ 

8/10 

• Remarks about DPC agenda to White House briefing for attendees to Hanukkah 

reception, 12/3/10 

• Remarks about DPC agenda to White House briefing for attendees to White 

House holiday party, 12/16/10 

• Remarks at reception for Promise Neighborhoods applicants, 12/16/10 

• West Wing Week: Student Loans http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jFMQT10lWI, 12/30/10 

30 

17. Selection: 

(a) What do you believe in your background or employment experience affirmatively 

qualifies for this particular appointment? 

Over nearly a decade of public service, ranging from non-profits to congress to the 

White House, I have worked hard to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of government; to make critical programs respond better the needs and priorities of ordinary Americans. Out Nations faces hard budgetary choices in the coming years. The 

experience I gained as the Legislative Director for Senator Kerry, as a Policy Director for two national Presidential campaigns, and most recently as Deputy Director 

fo the Domestic Policy Council has prepared me to tackle those challenges as Deputy Director of the Office of Management and Budget. This position demands policy 

sophistication as well as technical budget expertise. I possess both. I have been involved with numerous budget and appropiations-related issues during my career. 

This was essential for me to develop national platforms for two presdential candidates. Similarly, my roll at the Domestic Policy Council has required significant 

involvement with the budget processes during the Obama Administration. Yet, I 

have been responsible for managing such complex processes throughout my professional life, all of which have had multiple contraints on decision-making, and often 

many sources of informatin to process and competing equities to balance. These 

skills are critical to ensuring that policy initiatives are affordable, cost-effective and 

have long term returns for the taxpayer, which in turn are essential for the Administration to be a good steward of government. 

(b) Were any conditions, expressed or implied, attached to your nomination? If so, 

please explain. 

No. 

(c) Have you made any commitment(s) with respect to the policies and principles 

you will attemt to implement in the position for which you have been nominated? 

If so, please identify such commitment(s) and all persons to whom such commitments have been made. 

No. 

B. FUTURE EMPLOYMENT RELATIONSHIPS 

1. Will you sever all connections with your present employers, business firms, business associations or business organizations if you are confirmed by the Senate? 

If confirmed, I will remain an employee of the US Government. 

2. Do you have any plans, commitments or agreements to pursue outside employment, with or without compensation, during your service with the government? If 

so, please explain. 

No. 

3. Do you have any plans, commitments or agreements after completing government 

service to resume employment, affiliation or practice with your previous employer, 

business firm, association or organization? 

No. 

4. Has anybody made a commitment to employ your services in any capacity after 

you leave government service? If so, please identify such person(s) and commitment(s) and explain. 

No. 

5. If confirmed, do you expect to serve out your full term or until the next Presidential election, whichever is applicable? If not, please explain. 

Yes. 

C. POTENTIAL CONFLICTS OF INTEREST 

1. If confirmed, are there any issues from which you may have to recuse or disqualify yourself because of a conflict of interest or the appearance of a conflict of 

interest? If so, please explain. 

31 

In connection with the nomination process, I have consulted with the Office of Government Ethics and the Office of Management and Budget’s designated agency ethics official to identify potential conflicts of interest. Any potential conflicts of interest 

will be resolved in accordance with the terms of an ethics agreement that I have 

entered into with OMB’s designated agency ethics official and that has been provided to this Committee. I am not aware of any other potential conflicts of interest. 

2. Identify and describe all investments, obligations, liabilities, business relationships, dealings, financial transactions, and other financial relationships which you 

currently have or have had during the last 10 years, whether for yourself, on behalf 

of a client, or acting as an agent, that could in any way constitute or result in a 

possible conflict of interest in the position to which you have been nominated. 

In connection with the nomination process, I have consulted with the Office of Government Ethics and the Office of Management and Budget’s designated agency ethics official to identify potential conflicts of interest. Any potential conflicts of interest 

will be resolved in accordance with the terms of an ethics agreement that I have 

entered into with OMB’s designated agency ethics official and that has been provided to this Committee. I am not aqare of any other potential conflicts of interest. 

3. Describe any activity during the past 10 years in which you have engaged for the 

purpose of directly or indirectly influencing the passage, defeat or modification of 

any legislation or affecting the administration and execution of law or public policy 

other than while in a federal government capacity. 

While I have had extensive experience in the formulation of legislation and public 

policy as a federal government employee in the legislative and executive branches, 

as well as during olitical cmaigns, I have had minimal engagement in these activities during the short period in which I was neither a government nor a campaign 

employee during the relevant time period. 

4. Do you agree to have written opinions provided to the Committee by the designated agency ethics officer of the Office of Management and Budget and by the 

Office of Government Ethics concerning potential conflicts of interest or any legal 

impediments to your serving in this position? 

Yes. 

5. Explain how you will resolve potential conflicts of interest, including any disclosed by your response to the above questions. 

In connection with the nomination process, I have consulted with the Office of Government Ethics and the Office of Management and Budget’s designated agency ethics official to identify potential conflicts of interest. Any potential conflicts of interest 

will be resolved in accordance with the terms of an ethics agreement that I have 

entered into with OMB’s designated agency ethics official and that has been provided to this Committee. I am not aqare of any other potential conflicts of interest. 

D. LEGAL MATTERS 

1. Have you ever been disciplined or cited for a breach of ethics for unprofessional 

conduct by, or been the subject of a complaint to any court, administrative agency, 

professional association, disciplinary committee, or other professional group? If so, 

provide details. 

No. 

2. To your knowledge, have you ever been investigated, arrested, charged or convicted (including pleas of guilty or nolo contendre) by any Federal, State, or other 

law enforcement authority for violation of any Federal, State, county or municipal 

law, regulation, or ordinance, other than a minor traffic offense? If so, provide details. 

No. 

3. Have you or any business of which you are or were an officer, director or owner 

ever been involved as a party of interest in any administrative agency proceeding 

or civil litigation? If so, provide details. 

It is possible that my former employers were involved in litigation during the periods I worked for them; however, to my knowledge, no suit involved allegations related to my own conduct, and I was not personally involved in any legal proceedings. 

32 

4. Please advise the Committee of any additional information, favorable or unfavorable, which you feel should be considered in connection with our nomination. 

None. 

E. TESTIFYING BEFORE CONGRESS 

1. If confirmed, are you willing to appear and testify before any duly constituted 

committee of the Congress on such occasions as you may be reasonably requested 

to do so? 

Yes. 

2. If confirmed, are you willing to provide such information as may be requested by 

any committee of the Congress? 

Yes. 

F. FINANCIAL DATA 

All information requested under this heading must be provided for yourself, your 

spouse, and your dependents. 

1. Please provide personal financial information not already listed on the SF278 Financial Disclosure form that identifies and states the value of all: 

(a) assets of $10,000 or more held directly or indirectly, including but not limited to bank accounts, securities, commodities futures, real estate, trusts (including 

the terms of any beneficial or blind trust of which you, your spouse, or any of your 

dependents may be a beneficiary), investments, and other personal property held in 

a trade or business or for investment other than household furnishings, personal effects, clothing, and automobiles; and 

(Redacted) 

(b) liabilities of $10,000 or more including but not limited to debts, mortgages,loans, and other financial obligations for which you, your spouse, or your dependents have a direct or indirect liability or which may be guaranteed by you, your 

spouse, or your dependents; and for each such liability indicate the nature of the 

liability, the amount, the name of the creditor, the terms of payment, the security 

or collateral, and the current status of the debt repayment. If the aggregate of your 

consumer debts exceeds $10,000, please include the total as a liability. Please include additional information, as necessary, to assist the Committee in determining 

your financial solvency. The Committee reserves the right to request additional information if a solvency determination cannot be made definitively from the information provided. 

(Redacted) 

2. List sources, amounts and dates of all anticipated receipts from deferred income 

arrangements, stock options, executory contracts and other future benefits which 

you expect to derive from current or previous business relationships, professional 

services and firm memberships, employers, clients and customers. If dates or 

amounts are estimated, please so state. Please only include those items not listed 

on the SF 278 Financial Disclosure form. 

(Redacted) 

3. Provide the identity of and a description of the nature of any interest in an option, registered copyright, or patent held during the past 12 months and indicate 

which, if any, from which you have divested and the date of divestment unless already indicated on the personal financial statement. 

(Redacted) 

4. Provide a description of any power of attorney which you hold for or on behalf 

of any other person. 

(Redacted) 

5. List sources and amounts of all gifts exceeding $500 in value received by you, 

your spouse, and your dependents during each of the last three years. Gifts received 

from members of your immediate family need not be listed. 

33 

(Redacted) 

6. Have you filed a Federal income tax return for each of the past 10 years? If not, 

please explain. 

(Redacted) 

7. Have your taxes always been paid on time including taxes on behalf of any employees? If not, please explain. 

(Redacted) 

8. Were all your taxes, Federal, State, and local, current (filed and paid) as of the 

date of your nomination? If not, please explain. 

(Redacted) 

9. Has the Internal Revenue Service or any other state or local tax authority ever 

audited your Federal, State, local, or other tax return? If so, what resulted from the 

audit? 

(Redacted) 

10. Have any tax liens, either Federal, State, or local, been filed against you or 

against any real property or personal property which you own either individually, 

jointly, or in partnership? If so, please give the particulars, including the date(s) and 

the nature and amount of the lien. State the resolution of the matter. 

(Redacted) 

11. Provide for the Committee copies of your Federal income tax returns for the past 

3 years. These documents will be made available only to Senators and staff persons 

designated by the Chairman and Ranking Minority Member. They will not be available for public inspection. 

(Redacted) 

12. Have you ever been late in paying court-ordered child support? If so, provide 

details. 

(Redacted) 

13. Have you ever filed for bankruptcy or been a party to any bankruptcy proceeding? If so, provide details. 

(Redacted) 

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PRE-HEARING QUESTIONS FROM CHAIRMAN CONRAD WITH 

RESPONSES BY HEATHER HIGGINBOTTOM 


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POST-HEARING QUESTIONS FROM RANKING MEMBER JEFF 

SESSIONS WITH RESPONSES BY HEATHER HIGGINBOTTOM 


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61 

EXECUTIVE BUSINESS MEETING ON THE 

NOMINATION OF HEATHER A. 

HIGGINBOTTOM TO BE DEPUTY DIRECTOR, 

OFFICE OF MANAGEMENT AND BUDGET 

TUESDAY, APRIL 5, 2011 

U.S. SENATE, COMMITTEE ON THE BUDGET, Washington, DC. 

The Committee met, pursuant to notice, at 12:33 p.m., in Room 

S–216, The Capitol, Hon. Kent Conrad, Chairman of the Committee, presiding. 

Present: Senators Conrad, Murray, Wyden, Nelson, 

Stabenow, Cardin, Whitehouse, Warner, Merkley, Begich, 

Coons, Sessions, Enzi, Cornyn, Portman, Toomey, and Johnson. 

Staff present: Mary Ann Naylor, Majority Staff Director; and 

Marcus Peacock, Minority Staff Director. 

Also present: Dylan Morris, clerk. 

Chairman CONRAD. If I could have everybody’s attention. 

The meeting will come to order. We are meeting to vote on the 

nomination of Heather Higginbottom to be the next Deputy Director of the Office of Management and Budget. 

We will withhold statements for now. Anybody that wants to 

submit a statement may do it for the record. 

Senator WHITEHOUSE. What, no statements? 

Chairman CONRAD. Yes, there are statements but they will be offered in writing. 

Unless Senator Sessions has anything to add, we can move directly to a vote. 

Senator SESSIONS. So we will have time throughout the day to 

offer— 

Chairman CONRAD. Yes, sir. 

Senator SESSIONS. Well, I am comfortable with that circumstance. I got to express myself at the committee and will be 

voting no. 

In light of cooperating and getting this matter done, I will submit 

a written statement. 

Chairman CONRAD. I appreciate it. 

Senator SESSIONS. Maybe some of the other committee members 

would want to speak. I think they should be allowed to say a few 

words here before we vote. 

Chairman CONRAD. Let me just say that everybody will have a 

chance to submit it in writing. I think we know that people have 

made up their minds. So why don’t we go to a vote. 

The question now before the Committee is the nomination of 

Heather Higginbottom to be Deputy Director of the Office of Management and Budget. A quorum being present, I now move the 

Committee report this nomination to the Senate with a recommendation the nominee be confirmed. 

Is there a second? 

62 

Senator CARDIN. Second. 

Chairman CONRAD. A second is heard. 

Senator SESSIONS. Can we have a roll call? 

Chairman CONRAD. Yes. The clerk will call the roll. 

The Clerk. Mrs. Murray? 

Senator MURRAY. Aye. 

The Clerk. Mr. Wyden? 

Senator WYDEN. Aye. 

The Clerk. Mr. Nelson? 

Senator NELSON. Aye. 

The Clerk. Ms. Stabenow? 

Senator STABENOW. Aye. 

The Clerk. Mr. Cardin? 

Senator CARDIN. Aye. 

The Clerk. Mr. Sanders? 

[No response.] 

The Clerk. Mr. Whitehouse? 

Senator WHITEHOUSE. Aye. 

The Clerk. Mr. Warner? 

Senator WARNER. Aye. 

The Clerk. Mr. Merkley? 

Senator MERKLEY. Aye. 

The Clerk. Mr. Begich? 

Senator BEGICH. Aye. 

The Clerk. Mr. Coons? 

Senator COONS. Aye. 

The Clerk. Mr. Sessions? 

Senator SESSIONS. No. 

The Clerk. Mr. Grassley? 

Senator SESSIONS. No, by proxy. 

The Clerk. Mr. Enzi? 

Senator ENZI. No. 

The Clerk. Mr. Crapo? 

Senator SESSIONS. No, by proxy. 

The Clerk. Mr. Ensign? 

Senator SESSIONS. No, by proxy. 

The Clerk. Mr. Cornyn? 

Senator CORNYN. No. 

The Clerk. Mr. Graham? 

Senator SESSIONS. No, by proxy. 

The Clerk. Mr. Thune? 

Senator SESSIONS. No, by proxy. 

The Clerk. Mr. Portman? 

Senator PORTMAN. Pass. 

The Clerk. Mr. Toomey? 

Senator TOOMEY. No. 

The Clerk. Mr. Johnson? 

Senator JOHNSON. No. 

The Clerk. Mr. Chairman? 

Chairman CONRAD. Aye. 

Do we have Senator Sanders’ proxy? 

Senator SESSIONS. We have proxies on this side. 

63 

Chairman CONRAD. Well, can we hold open the vote until Senator Sanders has a chance, under the rules? 

Ms. NAYLOR. Yes. 

Chairman CONRAD. For how long? 

Ms. NAYLOR. I think we have held it open for 10 or 15 minutes 

in the past. 

Chairman CONRAD. I think we should ask if that’s acceptable. 

Senator SESSIONS. Well— 

Chairman CONRAD. What is the rule? 

Mr. GAETA. It is Chairman’s discretion. 

Ms. NAYLOR. You can report it out if you want, or you can hold 

it. 

Chairman CONRAD. Senator Portman, will you cast a vote? 

Senator PORTMAN. I am going to abstain. 

Chairman CONRAD. All right. I think we should—we can go 

ahead and report it as is, we will just do that. We will not wait 

for Senator Sanders. I mean, everybody was advised. So we can report it out as 11–10. 

With that, I want to thank everyone. I know this was disruptive 

to schedules and there is so much else going on. 

I very much appreciate everybody coming here to cast a vote. 

With that, we will report the nomination. 

[Whereupon, at 12:37 p.m., the Committee was adjourned.] 

Æ