Geithner confirmed as US Treasury secretary despite tax issues
Timothy F Geithner sworn in with President Obama in attendance, but more than a third of the US Senate voted against his selection
Timothy F Geithner has been sworn in as the new secretary of the US Treasury.
Geithner, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York until his
appointment yesterday, was embroiled in a scandal after it emerged he had not
paid all his taxes on income received from the International Monetary Fund in
2001, and in three subsequent years.
He has now paid the taxes and penalties, White House spokesman Robert Gibbs
confirmed, but the issues still led almost a third of the US Senate to vote
against his appointment.
The US Senate voted 60 to 34 to put Geithner in charge of the department, the
Los
Angeles Times reported.
Tim’s work and the work of the entire Treasury Department must begin at once.
We cannot lose a day because every day the economic picture is darkening, here
and across the globe,’ President Obama said before Geithner was sworn in by Vice
President Joe Biden.