Geithner confirmed as Treasury chief

Federal Reserve Bank of New York President Timothy F. Geithner won confirmation Monday as President Obama’s Treasury secretary despite personal tax lapses that turned more than a third of the Senate against him.

“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,” Obama told supporters before Geithner was sworn in by Vice President Joe Biden.

The Senate voted 60 to 34 to put Geithner in charge of the administration’s economic team as it raced to halt the worst financial slide in decades.

The swearing-in took place less than an hour later.

Obama said there had been a “devastating loss of trust and confidence” and that the financial system was in “serious jeopardy.”

In his remarks, Geithner said the new administration would work first to stabilize the financial system and get the economy growing again, and then would move to reform the system.

“We are at a point of maximum challenge for our economy and our country,” Geithner, 47, said to a standing-room-only audience at the Treasury Department.

Referring to Geithner’s tax problems, White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said Geithner had made amends -- he has paid the taxes and penalties -- and possessed the talent needed to steer the nation out of the crisis.

Geithner served as undersecretary of the Treasury for international affairs during the Clinton administration.

As president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, he’s been a key player in the government’s response to collapsing financial institutions and the housing and credit markets since last summer.

The ambivalence dogging lawmakers was reflected in the fact that a third of the chamber voted against Geithner, in large part because of his failure to pay all his taxes on income received from the International Monetary Fund in 2001, and in three subsequent years.

Ten Republicans overlooked that matter and voted for confirmation. Three Democrats and one independent voted against Geithner, including Sen. Robert C. Byrd (D-W.Va.), the longest-serving senator in history.

“Had he not been nominated for Treasury secretary, it’s doubtful that he would have ever paid these taxes,” Byrd said in a statement.