Supporters of Barack Obama's pick for a top cabinet post today sought to downplay reports that he briefly employed an ineligible worker and made more than $42,000 worth of errors on tax forms, in the hopes of cooling the brewing trouble before it can halt Timothy Geithner's confirmation as US treasury secretary.
The matter is the first speed bump in an otherwise smooth series of confirmation hearings, as other Obama nominees received relatively warm treatment from the Senate committees charged with approving them.
Geithner, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, yesterday told members of the Senate finance committee that mistakes on his tax forms early within the last decade were unintentional, and that he had repaid the more than $42,000 owed, including interest. It was also disclosed yesterday that Geithner employed a housekeeper whose work eligibility had expired during the period in which she worked for him.
Finance committee chairman Max Baucus, a Montana Democrat, vowed yesterday to move ahead with confirmation hearings, saying he was "satisfied" that Geithner had remedied the errors and that Geithner should be confirmed before the inauguration on Tuesday. But two Republicans on the committee, Jim Bunning of Kentucky and Jon Kyl of Arizona, blocked a request that the committee hold the hearing on Friday.
Leading Senate Democrats and some Republicans said the errors should not prevent him from being seated, although on everyone's minds were an appointee of Bill Clinton who failed to win Senate confirmation in 1993 amid revelations she had not paid proper taxes for her household help.
"I think this is an honest mistake," said Massachusetts Democratic senator John Kerry, a member of the finance committee, told NBC's Today show this morning. "Obviously it's an embarrassment. One wishes it wasn't there, but I don't think it's going to stop his moving forward."
Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid of Nevada said he was "not concerned at all" about the tax matters, describing them as "a few little hiccups".
Republican senator Judd Gregg of New Hampshire said that in the context of the economic crisis facing America, the Senate should not allow Geithner's personal tax situation to stand in the way of his confirmation.
"We have got to stop looking at the ridiculous, and look at the serious," he said on Tuesday on Fox News Network. "We are facing one of the most significant financial crises in the history of this country. Talented people like Tim Geithner are needed right now."
Republicans have thus far stopped short of saying Geithner should not be confirmed, but have made it clear they will not quietly accede.
Iowa Republican congressman Steve King, who has no authority on the confirmation, described the employee's ineligibility as "serious", and questioned whether the US treasury department should be run by someone who made errors on his tax forms.