“Keith Hall will bring an impressive level of economic expertise and experience to the Congressional Budget Office,” Mr. Price said at the time. “His vast understanding of economic and labor market policy will be invaluable to the work of C.B.O. and the important role it will continue to play as Congress seeks to enact policies that support a healthy and growing economy.”

The selection was derided at the time by Democrats, who considered him a conservative economist whose views on poverty and the minimum wage were too far to the right.

Mr. Hall, who made a small donation to the Republican National Committee in 2004, made his name in Washington holding top positions in the Republican administration of President George W. Bush. He served as chief economist for the Council of Economic Advisers and at the Department of Commerce before Mr. Bush tapped him in 2008 to lead the Bureau of Labor Statistics. There he became known as the “recession commissioner” because he was charged with the grim task of announcing millions of job cuts as the economy cratered.

Friends and former colleagues of Mr. Hall describe him as “low key”: someone who is more an erudite academic than a political punching bag.

“He is a no-drama kind of person,” said Erica Groshen, who succeeded Mr. Hall as commissioner of the Bureau of Labor Statistics. “He is not the kind of guy who is going to try to circumvent the professional work of the agency or to try to skew it in one way or another.”

Although its critics often question its statistical models or economic assumptions, to those who have worked at the C.B.O. the notion that it could cook its books is hard to fathom. The office is closely advised by expert advisory panels, and it frequently seeks comment from policy specialists from all political persuasions.

Mr. Hall said that the most surprising thing to him about the coarse reactions to the C.B.O.’s reports is that lawmakers on congressional committees and their staff members work closely with the office while writing their legislation. Rather than Congress submitting a finished bill to the C.B.O. in a black box, there is a regular exchange of feedback throughout the process.