Geithner to be Pressed on Obama Spending Plans
EmailABC News’ Jonathan Karl and Rick Klein report: Much of the attention that’s been paid to Tim Geithner’s nomination as Treasury secretary has surrounded his taxes — an issue that continues to play out among senators considering his appointment.
But Geithner has potentially tougher questions to answer during his confirmation hearings Wednesday before the Senate Finance Committee.
Republicans say they plan to use the hearings to press Geithner about the Obama administration’s plans for spending economic recovery funds — both the $350 billion in bank rescue funds President Obama requested even before assuming the presidency, and the $825 billion stimulus plan Democrats on Capitol Hill are discussing.
Another question he’s likely to face: What are the chances that Obama will be back asking for more money sooner rather than later?
Republicans plan to grill Geithner about a new Congressional Budget Office report on the stimulus plan. The report raises questions about just how quickly — and effectively — the plan will affect the economy.
The CBO says that only 7 percent of the infrastructure spending in the plan will be spent before the end of fiscal year 2009 — despite promises that only “shovel-ready” projects will be funded.
In addition, per the CBO report, less than half of the $30 billion in highway funds in the plan will be spent over the next four years.
There’s still nothing to suggest a major roadblock to Geithner’s confirmation. But it’s going to be an interesting first day on the Hill for the new administration.
Gulf of Mexico to Become Gulf of America? 
Can Mitt Romney Win Conservatives Back?
Timothy Geithner is a crook and a bad omen for Obama. He should not be confirmed. A horrible role model for paying taxes. If you could cheat on taxes and become treasury secretary, who knows what he will do with the taxpayers’ money.
Posted by: Stop Corruption | January 21, 2009, 11:37 am 11:37 am
Confirming Geithner will be the biggest mistake of Obama. Someone else should be nominated given his tax evasion.
Posted by: Big Mistake | January 21, 2009, 11:39 am 11:39 am
Senator Clinton’s Husband, former President Clinton, takes bribes from foreign governments. We are told this will not affect Ms. Clinton’s dealings as the Secretary of State.
Obama’s choice for attorney general helped get a pardon for the biggest tax cheat in American history.
Obama’s choice for head of treasury is a tax cheat.
The American people have elected a President who is like a Mayor of Detroit and has all the ethics of a Chicago polician.
Lord save this nation.
Posted by: Bill Jones | January 21, 2009, 11:47 am 11:47 am
He was not paying his taxes, he knew what he was doing. He tried to skip paying and keep that money in his pocket. Now it should cost him his appointment as a notice to others that your cheating may well catch up to you in the future so follow the rules or don’t cry foul when you get caught. He will get in because the party votes are there and this is a perfect example of washington politics being flaunted in the face of the people. There is no “change” as this will show it’s politics as usual. The American people should freak out and make sure this is not allowed and point out to washington that if you are going to run on “change” then you had better follow up on that.
Posted by: Ed | January 21, 2009, 11:51 am 11:51 am
In the Washington swamp, having a tax cheat like d-crat Rangle head the House Ways & Means Tax Panel is probably considered normal and acceptable politics-as-usual. Rangle’s motto is : “You pay taxes so I don’t have to.”
Now that d-crat slimebag will be joined by yet another tax-cheat who will head the entire Treasury Dept.
It’s bad enough that the d-crats waste trillions of taxpayer money on useless bailouts and other garbage. It adds insult to injury to have them hand over responsible finance positions to such tax criminals.
Posted by: ALEX H. | January 21, 2009, 11:57 am 11:57 am
Bill Jones
Clinton took donations, not bribes, for his library, as did the presidents before him and so will your crooked Bush.
Wont even talk about who Bush pardoned, like say Libby, who outed a CIA agent?!?!?! No jail time?!?!?! Thats a Repulican for ya, Bush might as well have been Nixon, it’s not illegal if you did it for political gain, right?
We all go to the HR Block and try to pay as little as we can, welcome to America!!!!
God has saved this country by sending us a solid citizen in President Obama.
Posted by: Scotti | January 21, 2009, 12:03 pm 12:03 pm
Did Bill Jones and the others not learn anything from the new President’s speech yesterday? Grow up and stop the personal attacks and innuendos that you make with no facts and facilitate dividing our country.
Posted by: Rich | January 21, 2009, 12:12 pm 12:12 pm
He knew!
Posted by: LongT | January 21, 2009, 12:17 pm 12:17 pm
It is amazing to think that a man of power can get away with not paying taxes, but the common man is held accountable for ever penny he makes. What this teaches everyone, and most importantly our youth , is that you don’t have to do what is right as long as you don’t get caught.
Posted by: Kathy | January 21, 2009, 12:32 pm 12:32 pm
I’m so uninterested in what Republicans had to say. If they had their way McCain would be in office nominating Phil Gramm as treasury secretary. Enough said.
Posted by: seth | January 21, 2009, 12:34 pm 12:34 pm
Why should his “Oh I am so sorry I broke the law” not have the same impact as it did when nominees in the past were crucified and eliminated? Could it be because the Democrats now rule?
Posted by: GDW666 | January 21, 2009, 12:41 pm 12:41 pm
“Bill Jones
Clinton took donations, not bribes, for his library, as did the presidents before him and so will your crooked Bush.”
Let’s see a little evidence of “crooked” shall we?
“Wont even talk about who Bush pardoned, like say Libby,”
Uh, he didn’t pardon him. He commuted his sentence. The conviction and fine still stand. And Bush has pardoned less than half the number of Clinton.
“who outed a CIA agent?!?!?!”
No. He did not. The Deputy Secretary of State confirmed the identity to the reporter.
“No jail time?!?!?!”
No crime.
“Thats a Repulican for ya,”
And ignorance of the facts ranted on is who for ya?
Posted by: GDW666 | January 21, 2009, 12:47 pm 12:47 pm
Geithner should not be confirmed as Treasury Secretary. If he is then the “change” promised by Obama is really campaign rehtoric and Washington politics is safe again. There should be more Hispanics in the Obama administration, after all the Hispanic community is the largest minority group in America.
Posted by: Pablo | January 21, 2009, 12:51 pm 12:51 pm
even more than misrepresenting his tax liability while working for treasury ( which is grounds for termination)he was right there with paulson, bernanke. and greenspan who oversaw the biggest lack of oversight ever. this nomination makes no sense.
Posted by: catman | January 21, 2009, 1:13 pm 1:13 pm
So let me get this straight….cheating on taxes is now acceptable and can actually improve our job prospects??!!! Give me a break people!! Anyone else would already be crucified…NEXT!!!!
Posted by: grumpyoldmanintown | January 21, 2009, 1:20 pm 1:20 pm
Bill Jones / Stop Corruption / Big Mistake / Ed / ALEX H
Question 1 – Has Geithner ever been charged with Tax Evasion?
Question 2 – Have you always paid your taxes on time? Have you ever been audited, or audited yourself to see if a mistake was made?
Question 3 – Are you a party loyalist (meaning, are you a registered Republican or Democrat)?
Bottom line, I don’t know that answers to the above, but I’m willing to go out on a limb and say the answer to #3 is “Registered Republican”.
My problem here is you’re confusing Politics with Progress. I recently read where Geithner was praised for his actions for trying to hold Wall Street accountable.
I agree with Scotti’s comments, although I would have left out the “God has blessed us…” part.
If you paid attention and watched the election thru the eyes of an undecided, independent voter, you would have noticed a major difference between the two primary candidates: McCain was politics as usual, and Obama wants to make serious change in this country.
I don’t know about you, but it personally pisses me off that Made in America means nothing in this country. I hate seeing so many foreign cars and products on the streets and in shops. Obama seems to be disgusted by that too. He seems to want to focus on OUR problems. He seems to want to set things straight in our country, and let our progress and achievments speak for themselves in the international community. All of the things I just mentioned are good, very good for this country. But they require a new way of thinking, and yes, unfortunately, they also require the Texas Two Step on the Hill. If you can’t play the political game in Washington, you’ll get no where. Obama seems to have figured this out and so far, he seems to be playing the game well, while understanding that the people are watching and waiting.
Maybe you need to give the guy a chance and see what he can do beyond his first 1/2 day in office. Who knows, maybe he’ll fail. Maybe the scandals will be endless. But it seems to me that if all we’re doing is sitting idly by, waiting for something to go wrong, then we the people are as much a part of the problem as is the Government. Me personally, I’m going to work today to do my part. I’m ready for this country to become great again, and I don’t care who leads us there. Republican/Democrat, it’s all the same to me. But there’s only one United States of America. Seems to me since we all live here, we should at least try to get along and do what we can to make this a better place to live.
Posted by: WeaponX | January 21, 2009, 1:21 pm 1:21 pm
I wish ABC News had created a new link to President Obama’s speech rather than cutting off Geitner’s confirmation hearings. I wanted to hear what that dialogue was.
It’s extremely annoying when the media so obviously controls what I can know and what I cannot.
This new administration may be striving for change; the media is not.
Posted by: soose | January 21, 2009, 1:48 pm 1:48 pm
This pant load is a tax cheat. That’s all you need to know about him. He is a tax cheat plain and simple. He has no business anywhere near government money. He should have the class to turn the position down. But he doesn’t. He’s a tax cheat and would have paid nothing if he had not been caught and forced to pay. Not a mistake – Cheat. But it would be a mistake to confirm him. It’s hard to believe that he has made it this far.
Posted by: Chas | January 21, 2009, 4:14 pm 4:14 pm
Geez, I realy get tired of listening to the Repubs. putting the Demos.down,This country is currupt because of 8 years of REpub.control of Congress.
Posted by: butch-40 | January 21, 2009, 5:33 pm 5:33 pm
All you judgemental bigots, if you want to see a real cheat, look at the mirror reflextion of yourself. Some where in your life’s journey, you have cheated in some way. Religiously there has been only man that I know of that was free of sin from birth to death.
We expect our leaders; (Political, Business or Religious) to be perfect and without errror in judgement. That is a human impossiblity? IMPOSSIBLIITY.
So, those of you who are without sin, cast the first stone.
Posted by: Humble "Dee" | January 21, 2009, 5:49 pm 5:49 pm
Hilary needs to be confirmed when it is time to be confirmed. She really needs to wait when it comes time to work on her ‘ISSUES’
Peace
Loretta sue Phillips
Independent Business Researcher Contractor
PO Box # 6785
East Lansing,Michigan
48826
onearth4u2b2yahoo.com
Posted by: LOre' Loretta Sue Phillips | January 21, 2009, 6:33 pm 6:33 pm
Woohoo! Another government-backed 600 bucks headed my way, maybe by this summer! Maybe I’ll stop paying my mortgage and let the government bail me out. I’m lovin’ this whole stimulus/bailout idea! Viva Obama – and Geithner too!
Posted by: Disgruntled taxpayer | January 21, 2009, 6:40 pm 6:40 pm
“All you judgemental bigots, if you want to see a real cheat, look at the mirror reflextion of yourself. Some where in your life’s journey, you have cheated in some way. Religiously there has been only man that I know of that was free of sin from birth to death. We expect our leaders; (Political, Business or Religious) to be perfect and without errror in judgement. That is a human impossiblity? IMPOSSIBLIITY.”
Posted by: Humble “Dee”
Humble Dee – I looked in the mirror and did not see a “cheat” looking back and frankly, I would have been surprised if I did.
Sorry to break it to you, but there are many honest and good people in the world problem is, they never rarely run for public office and when they do, they’re often ridiculed as “religious extremists.”
Of course people aren’t perfect – no one expects our elected officials to be perfect. What we expect is that they stay true to their principles, work hard, pay their taxes, not break the law, remain moral and set a good example for our children – like everyday citizens do every day. Oh and we expect our elected officials to always remember who they work for.
Posted by: Lil Mel | January 21, 2009, 6:49 pm 6:49 pm
Obama picked this guy so he must be good. Long live King Obama. Look up Jay Z rant. You will love it
Posted by: usa lover | January 22, 2009, 12:20 am 12:20 am
This guys says “I made a serious mistake, but not an intentional mistake.” Humm… and what kind of mistake is intentional? Don’t worry Geithner, we’re ALL taking notes for our OWN defense in front of YOUR tax attorneys.
Seems the Dems just can’t stomach ANY controversy from within their ranks… first it was that joker Blago appointed to be the DEMOCRAT from Illionis, and they’d ignore it even if this guy was a serial killer… He’d STILL get confirmed…
Posted by: Fiercely_Independent | January 22, 2009, 2:08 am 2:08 am
Waht is REALLY, REALLY surprising me in the Press isn’t going after the blood in the water…. oh yeah, they’re Dem too…
Posted by: Fiercely_Independent | January 22, 2009, 2:09 am 2:09 am
Come on people, they’re ALL crooks, starting with Obama. He has just never released information on all of his questionable dealings and positions. This is the only common ground among Democrats – Clintons, Geither, Blagojevich, Ayers. The best is yet to come!
Posted by: Rob | January 22, 2009, 3:03 am 3:03 am
It looks like the perception of experience and expertise trumps honesty and character. Oh, it’s Washington, that’s right!
Posted by: LongT | January 22, 2009, 8:52 am 8:52 am
It is amazing really. Who has not screwed up their taxes at one time or another. I have received corrections from the IRS at least twice in the years I have been doing my own taxes. Just because a person is a big financial guru does not mean they can’t make a bone-head mistake.
Let’s sit back and give this Administration the people it wants and some time to do something before we jump all over them.
Take an ani-acid and watch some TV, listen to the radio or whatever you do to relax. Do this for a month or so. Once they actually have done some things I am sure you pessimists and right wing lunatics will find lots that doesn’t gibe with your view of reality.
Posted by: Pete | January 22, 2009, 10:42 am 10:42 am