But Who Will Be Watching Him?

Senate Confirms Geithner as Treasury Secretary
A majority of the Senate voted Monday to approve Timothy Geithner's nomination to run the Treasury Department.

WASHINGTON -- The Senate on Monday confirmed New York Federal Reserve Bank chief Timothy Geithner as President Barack Obama's treasury secretary despite tax problems that might have sunk his nomination in less desperate times.

The 60-34 vote, in which handfuls of Republicans and Democrats voted against their party leaders, put Geithner at the helm of Obama's economic team as it races to halt the worst financial slide in generations.

In swift order reflecting the urgency, Obama was expected to attend Geithner's swearing in Monday evening at the Treasury Department. White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said Geithner has made amends -- he has paid the taxes and penalties -- and possesses the talent the nation needs to steer the nation out of the crisis.

Geithner, 47, served as undersecretary of the treasury for international affairs during the Clinton administration. As president of the New York Federal Reserve Bank, he's been a key player in the government's response to collapsing financial institutions and the housing and credit markets since last summer.

Many Republicans were willing to overlook Geithner's failure to pay all his taxes on income received from the International Monetary Fund in 2001 and in three subsequent years.

For most senators, the real reason for Geithner's likely confirmation appears to be less a matter of bipartisan cooperation than political survival. Lawmakers of all stripes are eager to set the economy in the right direction long before voters judge their progress in the 2010 midterm elections.

"People make mistakes and commit oversights," said Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah. "Even the most intelligent and gifted -- two adjectives that certainly apply to Mr. Geithner -- make errors in their financial dealings."

Even so, not everyone was convinced that the need for a speedy confirmation should trump concerns about the candidate. Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, didn't buy Geithner's contention that he skipped paying some taxes because he was confused by the complexities of the tax code.

"They were described by the nominee himself as 'careless mistakes,"' Collins said in prepared remarks. "It has become clear to me that this is not merely a matter of complexity leading to mistakes, but of inexcusable negligence."

Sen. Mike Enzi, R-Wyo., agreed and noted that his is one of the few voices of dissent.

"Nominees for positions that do not oversee tax reporting and collection have been forced to withdraw their nomination for more minor offenses. They have been ridden out of town on a verbal rail," Enzi told the Senate. "The fact that we're in a global economic crisis is not a reason to overlook these errors."

"The Senate," he scolded, "is not supposed to be a group of 'yes' men."

It wasn't. Democratic Sen. Tom Harkin of Iowa lined up against the nominee, asking how someone of Geithner's "financial sophistication" could innocently not pay the taxes and then head up the agency that oversees the IRS.

"How can Mr. Geithner speak with any credibility or authority?" Harkin said.

The Senate Finance Committee approved Geithner's confirmation in an 18-5 vote last week. However ambivalent, some Senate Republicans were supporting him. Specter, for example, said he's not happy that Geithner didn't pay up all of the $42,702 in back taxes and interest until after he was nominated to become treasury secretary.

As such, Geithner will with directing the nation's economic recovery from the worst financial crisis in three generations, a task that could define the first two years of Obama's term. Specific duties include directing how $350 billion of already existing Wall Street bailout money is to be spent, then making the case to Congress and the public if more is needed.

In addition, Congress is working on an $825 billion economic recovery package that dedicates about two-thirds to new government spending and the rest to tax cuts. Geithner will be playing a big role in disbursing that money, too.