Bush Econ Team to Undergo Gradual Changes By Caren Bohan and Adam Entous WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Bush, who swiftly reshuffled his foreign policy team on Tuesday, is planning a more gradual overhaul of his top economic staff, people close to the White House said. Treasury Secretary John Snow has told associates he wants to stay in the job for at least six months to a year longer to launch Bush's tax-overhaul proposal, which means there will be stability in the top job on the economic team for a while. "John Snow has been a major proponent of fundamental tax reform and I think he would want to stick around to get that off the ground," said Bill Beach, a scholar at the conservative Heritage Foundation. After announcing the nomination of Condoleezza Rice as secretary of state, Bush met privately with financial executives. Officials said attention was turning to his second-term economic agenda of revamping the Social Security retirement system and the federal tax code. While Snow is expected to stay on, Stephen Friedman, who heads the National Economic Council, may return to Wall Street early next year, people close to the White House said. Friedman may also be in the running for another job within the administration, possibly Treasury secretary. Tim Adams, policy director for Bush's re-election campaign and a former chief of staff at Treasury, is seen as a possible replacement for Friedman. ECONOMIC ADVISERS Commerce Secretary Donald Evans last week announced his resignation, and officials said his replacement could be named within days. The leading candidate is Mercer Reynolds, finance chairman of Bush's re-election campaign. The chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers, Greg Mankiw, plans to return to his teaching post at Harvard University in Boston as early as February, people close to the White House said. Republican sources said February might be an opportune time for Mankiw to depart because by then the scramble to publish the annual Economic Report of the President will be over and Mankiw will be approaching the two-year mark in his job. "Greg Mankiw has done his Washington time," said Beach, adding that he is likely to depart soon after he "signs off on the galleys" of the economic report.     Continued ... Quelle "Bush Econ Team to Undergo Gradual Changes" : reuters.com Main page for "Bush Econ Team to Undergo Gradual Changes"