Story highlights Mulvaney would manage the White House's annual proposed budget, program and policies

The director also sets up the federal government's purchase of goods and services

Washington (CNN) President-elect Donald Trump has nominated Republican South Carolina Rep. Mick Mulvaney to be the director of the Office of Management and Budget.

"We are going to do great things for the American people with Mick Mulvaney leading the Office of Management and Budget," Trump said in a statement Saturday morning. "Right now, we are nearly $20 trillion in debt, but Mick is a very high-energy leader with deep convictions for how to responsibly manage our nation's finances and save our country from drowning in red ink."

Mulvaney, if confirmed by the Senate, would manage the White House's annual proposed budget, program and policies. The director also sets up the federal government's purchase of goods and services, called procurement, and oversees the performance review for government agencies and federal employees.

Mulvaney called the appointment a "great honor."

"The Trump administration will restore budgetary and fiscal sanity back in Washington after eight years of an out-of-control, tax and spend financial agenda, and will work with Congress to create policies that will be friendly to American workers and businesses," Mulvaney said in a statement.

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