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I was surprised to see Sen. Tom Harkin voted against Timothy Geithner as Treasury Secretary today. Geithner was confirmed by a 60-34 vote.
Sen. Harkin released this statement about the vote...
“I strongly believe that, save in extraordinary circumstances, the President should have the right to select his own team. President Obama believes that Mr. Geithner is the best person for this job, and it pains me to go against the President’s wishes on this matter.Sen. Charles Grassley also voted against Geithner, but that wasn't much of a surprise since Grassley voted against sending Geithner's nomination out of the Senate Finance Committee.
“I believe that Mr. Geithner is a person of obvious talent and experience, and I bear no ill will toward him whatsoever. However, after careful deliberation, I simply could not overcome my very serious reservations about this nominee for two reasons. Mr. Geithner made serious errors of judgment in failing to pay his taxes, and he made serious errors in his job as chief regulator of the financial institutions at the heart of the current financial crisis.
1 comment:
Our boy Feingold voted against him, too. Those two as well as Byrd had valid concerns over Geithner's tax shenanigans. Virtually any other cabinet post could have absorbed that kind of scrutiny. I, for one, am cheered by the principled stand Harkin et al. took.
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