Obama nominates Wal-Mart's Burwell as budget chief

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama has tapped Wal-Mart's Sylvia Mathews Burwell as his next budget chief, thrusting her into the center of Washington's heated partisan budget battles.

Obama will announce Burwell's nomination to lead the Office of Management and Budget during a White House ceremony Monday morning. If confirmed by the Senate, Burwell would bring more diversity to Obama's second term Cabinet following criticism that many top jobs were going to white men.

Her nomination also signals that the White House is trying to get back to normal business after the president and Congress failed to avert the $85 billion in automatic spending cuts that took effect Friday.