Mr. Lew, a longtime Democratic budget expert, received the support of all of Democrats on the committee as well as six Republicans, including Senator Orrin G. Hatch of Utah, the senior member of the opposition. The final vote was 19 to 5. Mr. Lew is widely expected to win confirmation, becoming the second Treasury secretary of Mr. Obama’s presidency.
The vote in the committee came as the Senate was heading toward a floor vote to cut off debate on the nomination of former Senator Chuck Hagel to be defense secretary. If Mr. Hagel receives the 60 votes to end the Republican filibuster, he is expected to be confirmed by Wednesday.
“This is the one vote that makes a difference,” Senator James M. Inhofe, Republican of Oklahoma and an opponent of Mr. Hagel, said, urging his colleagues to block Mr. Hagel.
Mr. Lew is a longtime Democratic budget expert. In the Obama administration, he has served as chief of staff, budget director and a high-level State Department official. Before then, he worked as budget director in the Clinton administration and on Capitol Hill.
Mr. Lew’s short stints in the private sector drew considerable scrutiny during his confirmation process – his third during the Obama administration, and fourth over all.
Just before the financial crisis, Mr. Lew was an executive at Citigroup, where he worked for a spell in a proprietary-trading unit that at one point benefited from the housing collapse. Mr. Lew never made investment decisions. But he did draw hundreds of thousands of dollars in salary and bonuses, and his contract contained an unusual provision allowing him to keep certain bonus income if he returned to a high position in the federal government.
Mr. Lew also won an unusual exit payment and a form of housing assistance from New York University, where he served as an administrator.
Republicans on the Finance Committee, particularly Senator Charles Grassley of Iowa, pressed Mr. Lew for more details on his contracts with Citigroup and New York University, as well as an investment based in the Cayman Islands. Before the Finance Committee vote, Mr. Grassley, who did not support Mr. Lew, said that he felt that the nominee’s answers were still unsatisfactory.
Ultimately, Mr. Lew – known as bookish and unassuming, and a familiar figure in Congress – won Republicans over. Senator Hatch praised his testimony during his hearing earlier this month, and said again Tuesday that he liked him personally. Republicans including Richard Shelby of Alabama and Rob Portman of Ohio have lined up behind him.
Mr. Lew is expected to win the support of the full Senate. As Treasury secretary, succeeding Timothy F. Geithner, he would face a slate of complicated budget issues.
On March 1, so-called “sequestration” comes into effect, and $85 billion in budget cuts, mostly to discretionary spending on the military and domestic programs, need to be made before the end of the fiscal year.
Later in March, Democrats and Republicans are gearing up for a fight over financing the government, threatening a government shutdown. And over the summer, the debt ceiling, a statutory limit on the amount the government can borrow, would need to be raised again.
More generally, the White House and Congress are still seeking a way to rein in large federal deficits without harming the sluggish recovery. The White House hopes to raise new tax revenue, primarily by closing loopholes in the tax code. Republicans are still seeking to reduce long-term spending on the entitlement programs of Medicaid, Medicare and Social Security.
Article source: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/27/business/senate-panel-backs-treasury-choice.html?partner=rss&emc=rss
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