James C. Capretta

James C. Capretta is the First Focus Fellow at the Center on Ethics and Public Policy. He possesses years of government experience and policy expertise on social programs in the federal budget.

Previously, Mr. Capretta served as Managing Director of Wexler & Walker Public Policy Associates and held fellowships with the Brookings Institution and Hudson Institute. He served as the Bush Administration’s top budget official for health care, Social Security and pensions, education and labor policy from January 2001 to May 2004. As the Office of Management and Budget’s Program Associate Director (PAD) for Human Resource Programs, Mr. Capretta was responsible for advancing the President’s agenda within the Departments of Health and Human Services, Labor, Agriculture, and Education; the Social Security Administration; the Office of Personnel Management; the Corporations for National and Community Service, and other agencies. During his tenure at OMB, Mr. Capretta was a key figure in the development of the President’s budgets since 2001. He was the lead OMB official for all aspects of Medicare and Medicaid reform policy development and implementation, as well as for the development of the President’s higher education agenda. He worked closely with the top leadership of OMB, senior White House officials, the top leadership in the agencies and members of Congress and their staffs.

Prior to joining the White House, Capretta served for nearly a decade as a Senior Policy Analyst on the Republican Staff for the U.S. Senate Budget Committee under Senator Pete Domenici, handling health care and Social Security issues, and as a professional staff member of the House Ways & Means Subcommittee on Health. Mr. Capretta began his career as a budget examiner at OMB from 1987 to 1990 after graduating with an M.A. in Public Policy Studies from Duke University. He holds a B.A. in Government from the University of Notre Dame.