Obama selects Wal-Mart Foundation president for new budget chief

President Barack Obama will nominate the president of the Wal-Mart Foundation as his new budget chief.

Sylvia Mathews Burwell, a Harvard and Oxford graduate and a native West Virginian, is waiting to be confirmed by the Senate in order to work to mediate the budget fights with Congressional Republicans. Burwell will step up amidst $85 billion spending cuts known as sequestration.

According to The New York Times, the measure that is backing the government now is predicted to run out in March, likely sparking a new battle between Republicans and the White House.

Burwell will be one of the only females in a White House staff dominated by men and would be the second woman to ever serve as budget director. Burwell has already served during the Clinton administration and was a top aide to former Treasury secretary Robert E. Rubin. Burwell was also a staff member of the National Economic Council.

Since leaving politics, she has spent time working for the Gates Foundation and the Wal-Mart Foundation.

Burwell would be taking over for Jacob J. Lew.

Mike Duke, President and CEO of Wal-Mart, Inck said in a statement, “Sylvia is a strong leader who both masters the details and has a clear vision for making big things happen.”