Obama Announces Treasury Assistant Nominations

President Barack Obama on Sunday announced his intent to nominate three advisers to key posts at the U.S. Treasury Department, which has lately been criticized for being understaffed. “Out of crisis arises opportunity,” Obama said in a statement. “With the leadership of these accomplished individuals and our whole economic team, I am absolutely confident that we will turn around this economy and seize this opportunity to secure a more prosperous future.” Alan Krueger, counselor to the Treasury secretary before his nomination, will head economic policy as assistant secretary. The Bendheim professor of economics and public affairs at Princeton University, Krueger has served as chief economist at the U.S. Departmet of Labor and has been widely published on education, unemployment, income distribution, social insurance, regulation, terrorism and the environment. David Cohen, previously counselor to the Treasury secretary, will now head terrorist financing as assistant secretary. Prior to his work at the Treasury, Cohen was a partner at the WilmerHale law firm, where he focused on civil litigation. Kim Wallace, previously counselor to the Treasury secretary, will now head legislative affairs as assistant secretary. Before joining the Treasury, Wallace served as managing director and head of the Washington research group at Barclays Capital, which he joined after serving 14 years in the same position at Lehman Bros. Inc. Write to Diana Golobay at diana.golobay@housingwire.com.