WASHINGTON — President Obama on Monday announced the departure of William Daley as White House chief of staff by the end of the month.
Jack Lew, Obama's budget director and a Washington veteran, will be stepping into the role. Lew has served in President Bill Clinton's administration, on Capitol Hill and in the State Department. He also served as chief operating officer of Citigroup Alternative Investments in 2008.
Daley, who has been on the job for one year, offered his letter of resignation to the president last week, detailing the successes on his abbreviated tenure.
The president asked him to reconsider, but Daley, a former Midwest chairman of JPMorgan Chase & Co., ultimately decided he wanted to return back to Chicago to spend more time with his family.
"There is no question that I am going to deeply miss having Bill by my side in the White House," Obama said. "Here in Washington I have every confidence that Jack won't miss a beat."
Obama credited Daley for his work over the past year, which he characterized as "one of the busiest and most consequential years" of his administration.
The president said Daley had been involved in all decisions of the White House from ending the war in Iraq to developing the American Jobs Act. He also helped broker a deal to reduce the deficit by over $2 trillion.
"So no one in my administration has had to make more important decisions more quickly than Bill," said Obama. "And that's why I think this decision was difficult for me."
As budget director for Clinton, Lew helped ensure a record $236 billion budget surplus. When Obama appointed him last summer, he was given the task of reversing an annual budget deficit that had ballooned to $1.3 trillion.
"If there was a Hall of Fame for budget directors, then Jack Lew surely would have earned a place for his service in that role under President Clinton, when he helped balance the federal budget after years of deficits,'" Obama said in announcing Lew's appointment as budget director.
