Geithner wins OK for Treasury despite tax woes

By David Lawder and Glenn Somerville

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Timothy Geithner won confirmation as U.S. Treasury secretary on Monday as the U.S. Senate set aside misgivings about his past income tax problems in light of his experience battling the financial crisis.

Geithner, 47, was expected to be sworn in quickly to help lead President Barack Obama's efforts to stabilize a worsening economy. The Senate approved his nomination on a 60-34 vote.

With the U.S. economy in full-blown crisis, Geithner's experience in dealing with the past year's rapid-fire rescues of key financial firms trumped the taint from his late payment of $34,000 in self-employment taxes when he worked at the International Monetary Fund earlier this decade.

The new Treasury chief is expected to soon unveil reforms to the United States' $700 billion financial bailout program to provide more support for housing and credit markets, and possibly a new effort to absorb troubled assets from banks.

"I would rather have a battle hardened veteran at the helm who knows the shoals and whirlpools than a neophyte who has to wade into these churning waters for the first time," Republican Sen. Orrin Hatch of Utah said during debate on the nomination.

But some lawmakers were disturbed enough by the tax lapse to vote against Geithner even though they thought him well suited for the job otherwise.

MANAGING A CRISIS

Geithner, who has been president of the New York Federal Reserve Bank since 2003, has now joined a new administration already deeply involved in pushing a package of spending and tax-cuts through Congress to lift the recession-mired economy.