Obama announces three nominees

USA: President Obama announced his nominees for director of the Office of Management and Budget, secretary of Energy and administrator of the EPA.

Sylvia Matthews Burwell, the president's pick for Office of Management and Budget director, is an expert on budgetary and domestic policy. She served as deputy director of the OMB from 1998 to 2001, as well as deputy chief of staff to the president and chief of staff to the secretary of the Treasury during the Clinton administration.

President Obama said that Burwell "understands that our goal when we put together a budget is not just to make the numbers add up. Our goal is also to reignite the true engine of economic growth in this country, and that is a strong and growing middle class -- to offer ladders of opportunity for anybody willing to climb them."

Those goals are especially important to remember now, "as we continue to try and find a way forward in light of the budget cuts that are already starting to cost us jobs and hurt our economy," he said.

The president also announced two nominees who will help build on the work his Administration has already done to control our energy future, while reducing the pollution that contributes to climate change: Ernie Moniz, who will replace Steven Chu as secretary of Energy and Gina McCarthy to replace Lisa Jackson as administrator of the EPA.

"They're going to be making sure that we're investing in American energy, that we're doing everything that we can to combat the threat of climate change, that we're going to be creating jobs and economic opportunity in the first place," President Obama said. "They are going to be a great team."