Reid says Geithner will win Senate approval

By David Lawder

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama's pick for treasury secretary, Timothy Geithner, won Senate Finance Committee backing on Thursday, and the chamber's majority leader said he expected the full Senate to confirm him.

Obama's top economic Cabinet member needs full confirmation to start work tackling a financial crisis threatening to worsen a yearlong recession as job losses mount.

With an 18-5 vote, the Finance Committee largely overlooked Geithner's underpayment of $34,000 in taxes, clearing the way for a confirmation vote that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said he hoped to hold around 6 p.m. on Monday.

"I do," Reid told reporters when asked if he expected Geithner to be confirmed.

Republicans could try to stop him with a procedural roadblock. Reid said that would "be very unwise" politically, adding, "We will have the votes" to clear any such hurdle.

Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus, a Montana Democrat who has been shepherding Geithner's nomination through controversy, had pushed for floor vote on Thursday, but Republicans objected, asking for more time.

"The president needs his team. I'm trying to help him get his team in place," Baucus told reporters.

Geithner told the committee on Wednesday the Obama administration in coming weeks would unveil a multi-pronged effort to stabilize the housing market, strengthen core banks and support consumer credit to help foster economic recovery.

Worries over potential delays in Obama's economic stimulus efforts have helped pushed stocks lower in recent days as mounting corporate job cuts and weak housing data feed worries about a worsening economy.

Comments from White House spokesman Robert Gibbs that the new president was working to ensure that stimulus and financial stability plans were "implemented quickly" helped limit some damage, but major stock indexes still lost more than 1 percent on Thursday.

Gibbs added that Obama was pleased with the committee's "strong, bipartisan" vote.

Geithner, who now heads the New York Federal Reserve Bank, was considered by many to be an ideal candidate for the job because he has already been deeply involved in government efforts to prop up financial institutions and markets amid the worst financial crisis since the 1930s.

TAX PROBLEMS COST VOTES

Geithner's nomination appeared without controversy until revelations last week that he underpaid self-employment tax for several years when he worked for the International Monetary Fund earlier this decade.

Although Geithner corrected what he called "careless" and "unintentional" mistakes, the tax errors cost him some votes on the committee.