By Xinhua
Washington : U.S. President George W. Bush nominated on Wednesday Keith Hennessey to replace the director of the National Economic Council, Al Hubbard, who resigned for family concerns.
“Keith has been an important member of my White House team for more than five years,” Bush said in a statement. “He has served as the deputy to three directors of the National Economic Council (NEC), and has worked on a broad range of economic policy issues.”
After joining the White House in 2002, Hennessey has been the deputy to three NEC directors including Hubbard. Prior to that, he served as a budget advisor at the Senate.
Hubbard submit a resignation letter to Bush earlier the day, saying the decision to leave the White House by the end of the year was made with mixed emotion.
“Were it not for my strong desire to spend more time with my kids, I would not have considered departing,” said Hubbard, the father of three.
Hubbard, 60, took the post at the beginning of Bush’s second term in 2004, has helped the White House to design policies on entitlement reform, energy security, climate change, housing and trade investment policy.
“Al contributed his own ideas and also worked to ensure that all views were brought to the table and given fair analysis and debate,” Bush said. “While many of the policies Al worked to develop are in place today, other policy initiatives, including Social Security reform and health care reform, have laid the foundation for policies I believe will be adopted in the future.”
Hubbard was the second White House senior official in two weeks. Earlier this month, Fran Townsend, who has served as the president’s terrorism adviser for four and half years, announced her resignation.
Top aide Karl Rove, along with press secretary Tony Snow, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and senior presidential adviser Dan Bartlett, have already left.