Senate Committee On Finance Vote On The Nomination Of Timothy Geithner To Be Treasury Secretary

Statement

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SEN. HATCH: Well, thank you, Mr. Chairman. Happy to be here with you. And this is a very important nomination. It's a very important time for our country. I intend to vote positively before -- for this nominee.

You know, I think there's room to criticize certainly. What happened shouldn't have happened. But I believe that he made honest mistakes. And I believe that this human being is the right person for this country at this -- at this time.

We are in real difficulty. This man has had extensive experience working all areas of the financial community; worked eight years for the -- for the Treasury Department; has worked with Ben Bernanke and Treasury Secretary Paulson; has had extensive experience in Asia. I'm convinced he's a person of great integrity, even though he has made these mistakes.

And I come at this from a position that the president of the United States deserves support on his selection of cabinet officials, unless you can show some lack of integrity, or some criminal conduct, or some really offensive conduct on the part of a nominee.

Now, we all acknowledge that what happened with regard to his tax returns should not have happened; serious stuff. On the other hand, what he's going to be handling is very serious stuff too. And there are very few people in this country who have the qualifications that he does.

Plus, I believe he's non-ideological, which to me is very, very important -- to have a person who's going to put aside politics at this particular time. Even though he comes from a different side of the spectrum than I, I think that's a very, very important thing. And I commend the president for making this choice, knowing that he's not going to follow the ideological line of the far left or the far right.

And hopefully, he can do this job in a way that all of his abilities and all of his experiences seem to indicate. I believe he should be given this opportunity to serve this country. We will all be watching him very carefully. And of course he'll have multiple hearings before this committee.

This is one of the most important committees in the Congress. I think this and Ways and Means Committees are the two most important committees in the Congress. And I appreciate you, Mr. Chairman, and the work that you do in this area.

I wish Mr. Geithner well. Our country's going to depend on his abilities. And I believe he has the abilities to help us at this time. And that, to me, is a very profound and important aspect to why I support him.

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