President-elect Donald Trump continued to draw unprecedented interest in his selection of nominees to normally unheralded positions within the administration.

Trump's Dec. 17 pick of Rep. Mick Mulvaney, R-S.C., to head up the Office of Management and Budget immediately raised eyebrows as the three-term congressman has routinely rallied around fiscally conservative budgets and restraining federal debt.

Mulvaney has been outspoken in his opposition to such budget pacts as the 2013 Bipartisan Budget Act — also known as the Murray-Ryan budget deal — to raise sequester spending caps. He also sponsored legislation in 2015 to reduce the size of the federal workforce through attrition as older employees retire out of the system. 

The pick was immediately applauded by congressional Republicans as a sign that Trump is committed to tackling the budget deficit, but Mulvaney’s selection raises speculation of how he will approach a number of new and ongoing budget issues.

Among the issues to watch are:

The OCO account

Overseas contingency operations funding has been the source of the Departments of Defense, State and U.S. Agency for International Development’s ongoing operations in response to the 9/11 attacks.

A June 2016 reportfrom the Congressional Research Service reports that $1.7 trillion has been appropriated to the account in the past 15 years, and it has become a bone of controversy ever since the 2013 sequester, when opponents saw the OCO as a workaround to defense spending cuts.

Mulvaney has been one of those opponents, calling the OCO a "slush fund" and has twice sponsored amendments to the National Defense Authorization Act to curb some of the current funding practices for the account.

With operations continuing in Afghanistan, Syria and elsewhere ongoing, Mulvaney’s approach to the OCO will be closely watched.

The DATA Act

One of the Obama-era laws that should get full-throated support from the Mulvaney is the Digital Accountability and Transparency Act of 2014 (DATA Act).

The law requires federal agencies to standardize their spending data and then make that information public, with reporting to begin in 2017.

The Treasury Department and OMB are overseeing the DATA Act’s implementation, giving Mulvaney direct insight to the process.

The congressman is seen as a likely advocate for the DATA Act and broader use of big data in government, having sponsored legislation to use analyticsto curb improper payments in 2015.

The End of CRs?

The business of the federal budget for the past 20 years can be summed up in two words: Continuing resolutions.

The temporary stay of federal spending has been the perpetual Band-Aid used to prevent a government shutdown, but Mulvaney’s appointment gives him a chance to craft what many have failed to: An official federal budget.

To achieve that goal, Mulvaney must get a proposed budget through Congress in either 12 appropriations bills or a giant omnibus spending package. The budget, and its spending priorities, will be the most closely-watched tasks of his presumed tenure.

Trump's infrastructure package

One thorny proposal the congressman will have to navigate is one proposed by his own boss: Infrastructure spending.

Trump has advanced the idea of a $1 trillion infrastructure package over the next 10 years, something some congressional Republicans have balked at. The Associated Press has reported that Trump had said the plan wouldn’t be a "core" part of his first term.

But an infrastructure bill is expected and Mulvaney will have the difficult task of balancing its expectations versus his own fiscal philosophy, in addition to Congress.

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