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On Capitol Hill, Senate confirmation hearings proceeded for several of Barack Obama's Cabinet nominees--Hillary Rodham Clinton for State, Arne Duncan for Education, Steven Chu for Energy, Shaun Donovan for HUD--even as his pick for Treasury Secretary had a hiccup. It turns out that when a federal bureaucrat works for the International Monetary Fund he is self-employed and therefore responsible for paying his own high rate of Social Security taxes. ABC's George Stephanopoulos reported that Timothy Geithner failed to pay $34,000 over four years from 2001 through 2004 when he was at the IMF. He paid two years' worth of back taxes in 2006 when he was audited but only forked over payment on the other two years once he was chosen by Obama as Secretary of the Treasury, a job which happens to include being the boss of the Internal Revenue Service.
ABC's Stephanopoulos depicted Geithner as being "embarrassed" about his oversight. NBC's Kelly O'Donnell reckoned it was "probably not enough to disqualify" Geithner from the job. On CBS, Chip Reid reported that senators "really like" Geithner: "He is very popular and he is highly respected."
The would-be boss at Foggy Bottom meanwhile discussed diplomacy swimmingly with her Senate colleagues. CBS' Reid called the reception afforded would-be Secretary Rodham Clinton warm "from both sides of the aisle." NBC's Andrea Mitchell saw her having "no problem displaying her mastery of foreign policy." ABC's Jonathan Karl (embargoed link) found it clear that Rodham Clinton "is the biggest star in Obama's Cabinet." The only tough questions, CBS' Reid pointed out, "had more to do with her husband than with her." Bill Clinton's global philanthropic foundation receives donations from foreign individuals and governments, posing potential conflicts asr the spouse of a Secretary of State. "The Clintons will not disclose foreign individuals who donate, only countries, and only those governments that have increased materially their contributions," noted NBC's Mitchell. "Too many loopholes say some senators."
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