Oral history interview with Robert L. Nabors, 2021
Abstract
Robert Nabors reflects on his service in the Obama administration, in which he held a variety of roles including deputy director of the Office of Management and Budget from 2009 to 2010, senior advisor to the White House chief of staff from 2010 to 2011, director of the Office of Legislative Affairs from 2011 to 2013, White House deputy chief of staff for policy from 2013 to 2015, and chief of staf f at the Department of Veterans Affairs from 2015 to 2016. Nabors provides details about major legislative and policy initiatives with which he was closely involved, including the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, the Affordable Care Act, federal budgets for the fiscal years between 2010 and 2014, the Middle-Class Tax Relief and Job Creation Act of 2012, and proposed cap-and-trade schemes for emissions reductions. Nabors, who served as a legislative intermediary between the White House and Congress, explains the political dynamics and negotiations that shaped each of these initiatives. Also discussed are debates within the administration's economic team around the size of the federal budget deficit, the administration's response to the scandal over wait times in Veterans Health Administration hospitals, the increased partisanship in Washington over the course of Nabors' career, and differences between the private and public sectors
Presidents--United States; Greenhouse gas mitigation--Law and legislation--United States; Budget deficits--United States; Nabors, Robert Lee, 1971-; Obama, Barack; United States; United States. Office of Management and Budget; United States. White House Office. Office of Legislative Affairs; United States. Department of Veterans Affairs; United States. Veterans Health Administration; American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009; Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act; Middle Class Tax Relief and Job Creation Act of 2012
Format
oral histories
Genre
Interviews
Date
2021
Physical Description
163 pages
Note (Biographical)
Robert Nabors served on the Obama-Biden presidential transition team and in several capacities in the Obama administration, including deputy director of the Office of Management and Budget from 2009 to 2010; senior advisor to the White House chief of staff from 2010 to 2011; assistant to the president and director of the Office of Legislative Affairs from 2011 to 2013; assistant to the president and deputy chief of staff for policy from 2013 to 2015; and chief of staff at the United States Department of Veterans Affairs from 2015 to 2016. Prior to the years of the Obama presidency, Nabors served in the Clinton administration in the Office of Management and Budget. Between the Clinton and Obama presidencies, Nabors was an aide and staffer in the U.S. House of Representatives. At the time of the interview, Nabors worked at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation as the director for North America
Note
Interviewed by Dov Weinryb Grohsgal on January 19, March 9, and September 1, 2021. This interview is part of the Columbia University: Obama Presidency Oral History
Note (Provenance)
Robert L. Nabors, Gift, transferred from Columbia Center for Oral History Research 2023