Bunning’s Opening Statement On Timothy F. Geithner's Confirmation Hearing To Be Treasury Secretary

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Of the many positions in the federal government about to be filled, the Treasury Secretary is among the most critical today.  We are confronting a severe financial panic, and one false move by the Secretary of the Treasury could result in years of stagnation and high unemployment.

Even before the disclosure of the nominee’s tax problems, I had serious reservations about this nomination.  Mr. Geithner has been involved in just about every flawed bailout action of the previous administration.

He was the front-line regulator in New York when all the innovations that recently have brought our markets to their knees became widespread.  He went along with the flawed monetary policy decisions of Alan Greenspan and Ben Bernanke. He failed to cite China for manipulating its currency, and he stretched the law beyond recognition to bail out Bear Stearns.

All those actions or failures to act raise questions about the nominee’s judgment, but the failure to pay taxes specifically provided to him by the IMF is the most troubling because it reflects a degree of negligence toward the law he will be charged with enforcing.

Mr. Geithner does not provide a satisfactory explanation for the problems, and certainly not one sufficient for a high-ranking public official who the American public demands and deserves to hold to a higher standard.  

The committee has known about these matters since December 5^th, but it was not until about one week ago that the information was shared with members of the committee.  Soon afterwards, the chairman sought to hold a rushed confirmation to which I and others objected.  This hearing is still rushed, and my staff has had only limited time to access the relevant information.  Now the chairman wants to mark up the nomination tomorrow.

As far as I know, the committee has never interviewed the IRS personnel involved in the tax case, and none of the witnesses has been made available to staff or committee members.  That is unacceptable in light of evidence that the IMF clearly explained his payroll tax obligations, as acknowledged by the nominee.   And Mr. Geithner’s failure to pay all the Social Security and Medicare taxes he owed until he was to be nominated is hard to explain to my constituents who pay these taxes on a regular basis.

I could spend a lot more time explaining my concerns about this nomination, but I will get into them in greater detail when we get to questions.

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