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Gibbs: No ‘Big Changes’ to Cabinet

A big Cabinet shake-up is not in the works, White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs predicted Sunday.

Gibbs doesn’t expect “big changes,” he said on CNN’s “State of the Union.” He praised the “very capable and good” Cabinet members for their work in advancing President Barack Obama’s agenda.

Several prominent administration members are moving on now that Obama has been in the White House for two years, and his economic team has been particularly hard hit. Peter Orszag, director of the Office of Management and Budget, departed this summer, and Jacob Lew was confirmed as his successor last month. Christina Romer, the head of the Council of Economic Advisers, stepped down in September and was replaced by Austan Goolsbee. Larry Summers, the director of the National Economic Council, announced in September that he will leave to return to Harvard University. He has yet to step down, and Gibbs said Sunday that Summers will stay on through the end of the year and that he expects an announcement about a replacement next month.

Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel has also stepped down in order to return to Chicago and run for mayor, and senior adviser David Axelrod has said he plans to leave for the Windy City in 2011 to begin work on the president’s 2012 re-election campaign.

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