Trotting Out the Team

A YULETIDE FLURRY OF CHEERY STATISTICS has done nothing to shake Bill Clinton's focus on the U.S. economy as his top priority. The President-elect's first major appointments, expected this week, will be his economic team. Clinton's choice for Treasury Secretary, aides say, is Lloyd Bentsen, the Senate Finance Committee chairman. The senior Senator from Texas, who was nominated for Vice President in 1988, is seen as having the stature and experience to steer Clinton's economic plan through Congress. Investment banker Roger Altman, a Treasury official in the Carter Administration, is said to be the leading contender for deputy secretary.

Top spot in the new Economic Security Council is likely to go to investment banker Robert Rubin or Harvard lecturer and transition-team adviser Robert Reich, who is also a candidate for head of the Council of Economic Advisers. Clinton wants to get the team in place before the economic retreat scheduled for Dec. 14-15 in Little Rock.