President Barack Obama will officially commence his second term in office on January 20, though because the 20^th falls on a Sunday this year, the public presidential inauguration will be held on Monday, January 21. As his second term nears, the President has begun to name nominees for key posts in his cabinet. On January 10, the President officially nominated White House Chief of Staff Jacob (“Jack”) Lew for Secretary of the Treasury. If confirmed by the Senate, Lew will replace Timothy Geithner, who plans to leave the Treasury Department at the end of January. In addition to serving as chief of staff since January 2012, Lew also has experience as director of Office of Management and Budget during both the Clinton and Obama administrations. The President also recently announced several other key nominations, including former senator Chuck Hagel for Secretary of Defense, Sen. John Kerry (D-MA) for Secretary of State, and his top counterterrorism adviser John Brennan as Director of the Central Intelligence Agency. A number of the President’s current cabinet members are expected to stay on for a second term, including Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius and Education Secretary Arne Duncan, while others have announced their plans to step down, including Labor Secretary Hilda Solis and Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lisa Jackson.

The President is expected to outline his agenda for his second term in his next State of the Union address, which will be delivered to Congress on February 12, 2013. The President’s budget request for fiscal 2014, while legally due to Congress by the first Monday in February, is widely anticipated to be delayed. According to several reports, insiders speculate the budget may not be submitted until early March. The expected delay has been primarily attributed to the uncertainty generated by fiscal cliff negotiations.