Geithner Confirmed as Treasury Secretary

As the new administration takes shape, a new boss is in charge at the U.S. Department of the Treasury.By a vote of 60 to 34, the U.S. Senate confirmed Timothy F. Geithner as Treasury secretary, according to the roll call record. The nays primarily included Republicans. Geithner faced skepticism over his failure to pay employee income taxes on wages earned while at the International Monetary Fund. While he called the missed payments a mistake, the disclosure was somewhat of an embarrassment for the new administration given that Geithner will oversee the Internal Revenue Service. Geithner, whose most recent job was president and chief executive officer of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, was originally announced in November as then President-elect Barack Obama’s choice to head the Treasury.

Fed photo of Timothy Geithner

“He has played a key role in formulating the nation’s monetary policy,” Obama said at the time. “Tim Geithner offers not just extensive experience shaping economic policy and managing financial markets, but an unparalleled understanding of our current economic crisis, in all of its depth, complexity and urgency.”The Dartmouth graduate previously worked at the Treasury starting in 1988 — where he served under three administrations and five Treasury secretaries. He has been involved in the historic bank rescue strategy and will oversee the $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program.

Geithner takes the reins from Henry M. Paulson Jr.

On Thursday, Shaun L. S. Donovan was confirmed as Obama’s Secretary of the Housing and Urban Development.

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