Office of the Director

Telephone: (202) 226-2700
Fax: (202) 225-7509

Director (Short Bio (pdf)  Long Bio (pdf)  Photo  Blog)

The Director of CBO is responsible for ensuring that all duties of the organization, as specified by law, are performed effectively, appropriately, and in a timely manner. The Director regularly consults with the budget committees to ensure that the agency's work and capacities meet and keep pace with Congressional demands.

Peter R. Orszag is the seventh Director of CBO. His four-year term began on January 18, 2007.

Before joining CBO, Dr. Orszag was the Joseph A. Pechman Senior Fellow and Deputy Director of Economic Studies at the Brookings Institution. While at Brookings, he also served as Director of The Hamilton Project; Director of the Retirement Security Project; and Codirector of the Tax Policy Center, a joint venture with the Urban Institute.

In previous government service, Dr. Orszag served as Special Assistant to the President for Economic Policy and Senior Economic Adviser at the National Economic Council during 1997 and 1998. Earlier, he served as a staff economist and then Senior Adviser and Senior Economist at the President's Council of Economic Advisers.

Dr. Orszag graduated summa cum laude in economics from Princeton University and obtained an M.Sc. and a Ph.D. in economics from the London School of Economics, which he attended as a Marshall scholar. He has coauthored or coedited a number of books, including Protecting the Homeland 2006/7 (2006), Aging Gracefully: Ideas to Improve Retirement Security in America (2006), Saving Social Security: A Balanced Approach (2004), and American Economic Policy in the 1990s (2002).

Dr. Orszag is an avid runner and the proud father of two children, Leila and Joshua.
 

Deputy Director

The Deputy Director assists the Director in the overall management of the organization and acts as Director in his or her absence.

Robert A. Sunshine is CBO's Deputy Director, a post he assumed in August 2007. Before then, he was the Assistant Director for Budget Analysis for eight years. In that capacity, he oversaw much of the work of the agency. He supervised the preparation of cost estimates and intergovernmental mandate statements (which identify the costs of federal mandates on state, local, or tribal governments) for legislation being considered by the Congress. He managed the preparation of CBO's multiyear projections of federal spending that constitute the "baseline" for the Congressional budget process; the agency's annual analysis of the President's budget; and its ongoing estimates of spending for Congress's budget scorekeeping system. He also coordinated the preparation of CBO's Monthly Budget Review. In 2003, he received the James L. Blum Award for exceptional and distinguished accomplishment and leadership in public budgeting from the American Association for Budget and Program Analysis.

Robert Sunshine has been with CBO almost from its inception. From 1995 to 1999, he was the Deputy Assistant Director of the Budget Analysis Division. From 1978 to 1994, he served as Chief of the Natural and Physical Resources Cost Estimates Unit in that division. For the two years before that, he was a principal analyst in the Budget Analysis Division, covering transportation issues. Before coming to CBO, he was a senior associate with Simat, Helliesen and Eichner, Inc., a transportation consulting firm.
 

General Counsel

The General Counsel performs CBO's legal work: interpreting applicable statutes, analyzing proposed legislation, and reviewing procurement actions.

This position is currently vacant.
 

Associate Director for Communications

The Associate Director for Communications is responsible for the public affairs activities of CBO, including relations with the media and interaction with public and private interest groups, foreign visitors, and personnel from the legislative and executive branches.

Melissa Merson joined CBO in 2000. In her previous position, she was responsible for public and government relations for myCFO, Inc., a financial professional services firm. Before that, she worked as a Tax Senior Manager for Deloitte & Touche LLP, where she managed the day-to-day operations of the Legislative & Regulatory Services Group. She also served as an appropriations associate and press secretary for a Member of Congress. Earlier, she held a series of positions in news organizations, first as a reporter with BNA, Inc., and then as Congressional Correspondent and Washington Bureau Chief with Market News International.
 

Associate Director for Legislative Affairs

The Associate Director for Legislative Affairs serves as CBO's principal liaison to the Congress, with priority given to the House and Senate Budget Committees.

Edward "Sandy" Davis has been employed with CBO since 1996. Prior to his February 2003 appointment as Special Assistant to the Director for Congressional Relations and Budget Process, he was a senior analyst specializing in Congressional budget procedures and practices. Sandy joined CBO after serving for many years as an analyst with the Congressional Research Service (CRS) of the Library of Congress.