Of all the excellent cabinet and staff picks Donald Trump has announced thus far, there may be none bigger than the choice of U.S. Rep. Mick Mulvaney (R-South Carolina) as director of the Office of Management and Budget. The federal government faces no more urgent challenge than $20 trillion in debt and no existing plan but to add more of it through deficits as far as they eye can see.
Mulvaney is not just a fiscal conservative in word. He was a fierce critic of former House Speaker John Boehner over Boehner's unwillingness to stand up to Barack Obama on spending measures. A lot of us felt the same way. Boehner had the power of the purse, and the federal government couldn't spend a time if the Republican-controlled House didn't authorize it. But Boehner was afraid to go to battle with Obama for fear of a "government shutdown" that the media would blame on Republicans.
