The top lawmakers in the House Oversight Committee asked the Senate Thursday to approve Beth Cobert, President Obama’s pick for director of the Office of Personnel Management.
Chairman Jason Chaffetz, Utah Republican, and ranking member Elijah Cummings, Maryland Democrat, said in a letter to Senate leaders this week that they approve of the president’s decision to have Ms. Cobert run the OPM, the federal office that manages civil services for the U.S. government.
“She is a qualified and competent choice to manage OPM, which is in need of strong leadership, and we use the Senate to approve her nomination swiftly,” the committee members wrote to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, Kentucky Republican, and Minority Leader Harry Reid, Nevada Democrat.
Ms. Cobert was appointed as acting director of the OPM in July when the head of the agency, Katherine Archuleta, resigned amid revelations that hackers had compromised more than 20 million personal records of past and current government workers during her tenure.
Mr. Obama nominated Ms. Cobert as the full-time replacement in November, and her interim performance has been praised by OPM Inspector General Patrick McFarland.
“I am also comforted by the fact that Acting OPM Director Beth Cobert appears to have wrapped her arms around the multitude of challenges currently facing OPM,” Mr. McFarland said in a February letter to the president cited by the committee members. “Further, she seems to be arduously striving to institute high standards of professionalism as she works to reinvigorate this great agency.”
Donna Seymour, OPM’s chief information officer, was slated to testify before the the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee about the data breach last month, but abruptly announced her resignation two days beforehand.
• Andrew Blake can be reached at ablake@washingtontimes.com.
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