Senate needs more time on Geithner: Grassley

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The top Republican on the Senate Finance Committee said on Wednesday the panel delayed a hearing on the nomination of Timothy Geithner to head the U.S. Treasury to give senators more time to reflect on Geithner's failure to pay payroll taxes.

In an interview on CNBC, Grassley said members of the committee needed "time to reflect" on a report the panel released on Tuesday on the tax matter. "If this hadn't come up ... this would have been handled very quickly, to get a new secretary of the Treasury sworn in very quickly."

Grassley said, as with any nominee, he would not make up his mind on whether to support Geithner until after the hearing, which is now set for January 21. The finance committee has jurisdiction over the nomination.

(Reporting by Mark Felsenthal and Tim Ahmann; Editing by James Dalgleish)