One of the most vocal supporters of mandatory Social Security coverage for public employees has become head of the Congressional Budget Office (CBO).

Peter Orszag, formerly an economist with the Brookings Institution, was selected by lawmakers December to become director of the non-partisan agency that produces fiscal projections on budgets and legislation for Congress. He was formally appointed to the position on Jan. 18.

Orszag, widely regarded as a Social Security expert, served in the Clinton administration as a special assistant to the president for economic policy and as a senior adviser on Clinton's Council of Economic Advisers. In 1998, Orszag told a group of public pension officials meeting with him at the White House that forcing all state and local workers to participate in Social Security was a "no-brainer" because nearly all Americans are already in the program and "besides, we need the money."

Orszag continued to push mandatory coverage while at Brookings, a liberal think tank, advocating the measure in articles and a Social Security reform proposal he authored with Massachusetts Institute of Technology Professor Peter Diamond.

Mandatory coverage would cost states and localities $44 billion over five years, according to The Segal Company.