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1993.04.07 :  Appointment -- Wendell Primus

Contact: Campbell Gardett (202) 690-6343
April 7, 1993

       HHS Secretary Donna E. Shalala has announced that she will
appoint Wendell E. Primus, 46, of McLean, Va., as deputy
assistant secretary for planning and evaluation/human services
policy in the Department of Health and Human Services.
       In this position, Primus will be responsible for policy
development and research on issues relating to Social Security,
disability, welfare and human services, including children and
youth programs.   
       Primus comes to HHS from Capitol Hill where since 1991 he
had served as staff director of the Subcommittee on Human
Resources, House Ways and Means Committee.  Since 1987, he also
had served as chief economist for the House Ways and Means
Committee.  He was senior staff economist for the committee from
1977 to 1987.
       With the subcommittee, he was primary staff author of such
major legislative initiatives as the Downey/Hyde Child Support
Enforcement and Assurance Proposal and the Gore/Downey Working
Family Tax Relief Act.  With the committee, he served since 1981
as editor of "The Green Book," which detailed federal spending
programs under the jurisdiction of the Ways and Means Committee. 
       During his years on Capitol Hill, Primus' responsibilities
spanned a wide range of issues.  He played a major role in budget
reform, and also served as Ways and Means Committee staff liaison
to the House Budget Committee and the Congressional Budget
Office.  As staff director and a senior advisor, he made
important contributions in the areas of child support, social
services, welfare in general, as well as child welfare in
particular.
       Primus was assistant professor of economics at Georgetown
University from 1974 to 1977, a period during which he also 
served as a consultant for the Mincome Manitoba Income Experiment
and for the House Committee on Agriculture.  Between 1969 and
1975, he was director of programming and data processing for the
Rural NIT Experiment, University of Wisconsin.  He also taught
economics at Iowa State University (1971-1972) and during 1966-
1969, developed and adapted computer programs at Iowa State
University for use in special economics research.
       Primus was born in Eldora, Iowa.  He received his
bachelor's degree in economics (1968) and doctorate in economics
philosophy (1975) from Iowa State University.
       His writings include: "Tax Policy and Income
Distribution," for Personal Saving, Consumption & Tax Policy,
1992; "Children in           - More -
Poverty: A Committee Prepares for an Informed Debate," Journal of
Policy Analysis and Management, 1990; "Financing Medicare Through
1995," National Journal, 1982; and "Tax Incentives for the
Promotion of Competition in the Delivery of Health Services," for 
the Health Care and Industrial Relations Conference Proceedings,
University of California, 1981.
       Primus is a member of the American Economic Association,
the Association for Public Policy Analysis and Management, and
the National Academy of Social Insurance.
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