Obama fills econ team, says business will revive

[ProSense]

Obama fills econ team, says business will revive

<...>

He vowed to spend responsibly: "We're not intending to spend money lightly" and "if we're building a road, it better not be a road to nowhere."

At his fifth news conference in as many days, Obama announced his selections of Republican Rep. Ray LaHood of Illinois for transportation secretary, California Rep. Hilda Solis for labor secretary, former Dallas Mayor Ron Kirk for U.S. trade representative and venture capitalist Karen Mills to head the Small Business Administration.

All four appointments must be confirmed by the Senate.

<...>

Of Friday's announcements:

_LaHood, who is leaving the House after 14 years, would be the second Republican in Democrat Obama's Cabinet. The other is President George W. Bush's defense secretary, Robert Gates, who has been asked to stay on at the Pentagon.

_Solis, the daughter of Mexican and Nicaraguan immigrants, has focused on immigration and environmental issues while in the House.

_Kirk, a partner in the Dallas office of the Houston-based law and lobbying firm Vinson & Elkins, was the first black elected Dallas mayor.

_Mills is a founding partner of the New York-based equity firm Solera Capital. She has been an adviser to Maine Gov. John Baldacci on economic matters.

Obama has met with reporters each day this week to announce major appointments.

On Monday, he filled out much of his energy team, naming Nobel-prize winning physicist Steven Chu as energy secretary and former New Jersey environmental chief Lisa Jackson at the Environmental Protection Agency. He also tapped Nancy Sutley, a deputy Los Angeles mayor, as chair of the White House Council on Environmental Quality and former EPA chief Carol Browner to lead a White House council on energy and climate.

Obama named Chicago schools chief Arne Duncan on Tuesday to lead the Education Department. And Wednesday, he chose former Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack as agriculture secretary and Colorado Sen. Ken Salazar to head the Interior Department.

Thursday, he named three veteran regulators to help reform the nation's financial institutions — Mary Schapiro as chairwoman of the Securities and Exchange Commission, Gary Gensler as head of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission and Daniel Tarullo as a member of the Federal Reserve.