Current Politcal News

"Senate OKs Geithner for Treasury
President Obama's pick survives failure to pay some taxes in 2001"
WASHINGTON - The Senate voted to confirm Timothy Geithner, President Barack Obama's pick for treasury secretary, Monday evening, after delaying a vote because Geithner failed to pay some of his federal taxes in 2001.

Under normal circumstances, failing to pay your taxes is a surefire way to torpedo your nomination to a Cabinet position.

But the race to halt the economic slide before the midterm elections in 2010 is so tight that President Barack Obama's choice for treasury secretary, New York Federal Reserve Bank chief Timothy Geithner, is got a pass on his tax troubles from the president and most senators, Democrats and Republicans.

Obama believes Geithner has made amends — he has paid the taxes and penalities — and possesses the talent the U.S. needs, his spokesman said.

"Secretary-designate Geithner ... admitted that he'd made honest mistakes that could and should have been avoided," White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said.

The Senate voted 60-34 to confirm Geithner.

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.

"I'm prepared to back Obama on this issue," Sen. Arlen Specter, a Republican said Monday. "The economic situation is so tense right now and I don't want see us go back to square one and wait several weeks or longer for the process to bring in a new treasury secretary."

"People make mistakes and commit oversights," said Sen. Orrin Hatch, a Republican. "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, a Republican did not 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, a Republican, 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."

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 did not pay up all of the $42,702 in back taxes and interest until after he was nominated to become treasury secretary.

As such, Geithner is being tasked with directing the U.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.



"Borger: Obama, GOP on their first date"

By Gloria Borger
CNN Senior Political Analyst


WASHINGTON (CNN) -- If there was one message that resonated loud and clear from the Obama campaign, it was this: Let's get past all of the partisanship and work together to get something done.


President Barack Obama has pledged to work with Republicans on his economic stimulus package.

Turns out, President Barack Obama actually meant it. He's been meeting with congressional Republicans (and will trek to the Hill again Tuesday).

He's been listening to their ideas, incorporating some tax-cut ideas. And, yes, he's also been turning some down. After all, as he told Republicans last week, he was the one who won the election.

So what we're watching now as the stimulus package takes shape is the legislative equivalent of the first date: Republicans meeting with the new president, sizing him up. Obama deciding whether the GOP is serious about working with him. Watch Obama discuss his stimulus plan »

"He [Obama] came to a conclusion early on in his political career that partisan polarization is a large part of the problem," says a senior Obama adviser. "Both in reality and in the minds of the American people."

Ah, but it's never that simple.

First, there's the House. It's the most polarized place in Washington, and the GOP leader, Rep. John Boehner, is making that very clear.

Too much spending, and too few tax cuts, he says. And, as icing on the cake, he cherry-picks some proposals bound to set off alarms with GOP constituencies -- all standard operating procedure from an opposition party. Watch a House Republican discuss his opposition to the plan »

But here's the problem: The GOP has to be careful about not being seen as the folks who simply want to obstruct the Obama agenda. Not just because the new president is popular, and not just because 58 percent of the public wants an economic stimulus plan. A majority of independent voters want one, too.

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It's easy to say "no" for Republicans. That's because while they can vote against the plan, they understand they're not likely to kill the stimulus package. So they figure they can get the best of all political worlds: making their rhetorical points against something, knowing full well it will pass.

But in voting against something that might actually work, Republicans might want to remember this: They need the economy to improve just as much as the Democrats do. They should want to be a part of the fix.

In a way, by courting bipartisanship, Obama is actually giving the GOP leverage.

That's where the Senate comes in. The House bill isn't likely to be anything the GOP will support, but in the Senate there's more chance for GOP input. Why not try to work with the president, just to see how it feels? In the end, Obama could end up in fights with his own House Democrats to bring along some Republicans.

Why not test him to see if he has the mettle to do that?

And, by the way, if you're a Republican in a state in which the economy is truly hurting, it's risky to oppose a stimulus package.

The president's approval rating is near 80 percent. People want to change the way Washington does business. If Republicans become the nay-sayers this early, they give Obama a big stick to beat them with -- and tar them as business-as-usual, partisan politicos.


Of course, substance matters. And voting for the largest spending package in American history will make fiscal conservatives, both Democratic and Republican, nervous.

But what might make them more nervous is the prospect that the economy doesn't improve. Then it's their jobs that will be on the line