US Treasury Secretary John Snow, an aggressive champion of the administration's economic policies, has accepted President George W. Bush's offer to remain in the Cabinet.
Bush's decision kept an important member of his economic team in place as the president seeks to promote his second-term priorities of simplifying tax laws and overhauling social security.
PHOTO: AFP
At the same time, Veterans Affairs Secretary Anthony Principi told his staff he was resigning. Principi is the ninth member of Bush's 15-person Cabinet to leave.
Rumors had swirled in the capital about Snow's future. Published reports said Bush would oust him. White House chief of staff Andy Card told Snow to ignore it all. While Snow was at the White House for a weekly meeting on Wednesday afternoon, Bush summoned him to the Oval Office to ask him to stay on.
"The president is pleased Secretary Snow agreed to continue to serve," White House spokesman Scott McClellan said on Wednesday.
"He's done a great job and has been a valuable member of the economic team, and we have a lot of important work to continue to build upon the steps we've already taken to get the economy growing stronger and creating jobs," McClellan said. "He's been an integral part of those efforts."
Bush has picked Kellogg chief executive Carlos Gutierrez to succeed Don Evans at the Commerce Department but has not settled on a replacement for Stephen Friedman, the president's chief economic adviser.
Snow, 65, is the former chief of railroad company CSX and holds a PhD in economics. McClellan said there was no limit on how long Snow would serve.
"The secretary is honored to help the president to implement his agenda to strengthen the economy," Treasury Department spokesman Rob Nichols said.
In February last year, Snow replaced Paul O'Neill, whose blunt-talking style -- and open reservations about the wisdom of large tax cuts -- irked the White House.
Snow has proved a forceful advocate of the president's economic policies, notably big tax cuts, on Wall Street and Main Street. He took the post at Treasury when the economy and the job market were struggling to recover from the 2001 recession, the Sept. 11 attacks and corporate accounting scandals.
During the 2004 presidential campaign, Snow traveled constantly, especially to the most contested states, promoting the administration's economic policies.
On some occasions, his comments had repercussions.
In a visit to Ohio near the end of the campaign, he said the notion that job losses were Bush's fault was a myth. That became fodder for a political ad for Democratic Senator John Kerry.
On a different trip to Ohio, Snow reignited the political argument about the shift of US jobs to other countries, saying that that practice was an integral part of a global trading system.
Snow's comments came against the backdrop of the loss of millions of manufacturing jobs in the US. Democrats pointed to the losses as evidence that Bush's economic policies were failing.
As treasury secretary, Snow has preached the importance of financial literacy. Yet he did not catch a more than US$10 million error in his own investment portfolio right away because he did not bother to read his financial statements for more than a year.
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
LANDSLIDES POSSIBLE: The agency advised the public to avoid visiting mountainous regions due to more expected aftershocks and rainfall from a series of weather fronts A series of earthquakes over the past few days were likely aftershocks of the April 3 earthquake in Hualien County, with further aftershocks to be expected for up to a year, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Based on the nation’s experience after the quake on Sept. 21, 1999, more aftershocks are possible over the next six months to a year, the agency said. A total of 103 earthquakes of magnitude 4 on the local magnitude scale or higher hit Hualien County from 5:08pm on Monday to 10:27am yesterday, with 27 of them exceeding magnitude 5. They included two, of magnitude
Taiwan’s first drag queen to compete on the internationally acclaimed RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅), was on Friday crowned the “Next Drag Superstar.” Dressed in a sparkling banana dress, Nymphia Wind swept onto the stage for the final, and stole the show. “Taiwan this is for you,” she said right after show host RuPaul announced her as the winner. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and to live their truth,” she said on stage. One of the frontrunners for the past 15 episodes, the 28-year-old breezed through to the final after weeks of showcasing her unique