Jack Lew To Be Nominated For Treasury Secretary By Obama: Report
Posted: 01/09/2013 9:56 am EST | Updated: 01/09/2013 3:16 pm EST
President Barack Obama will nominate White House Chief of Staff Jack Lew to be Treasury Secretary, Bloomberg reports.
Outgoing Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner is expected to leave his post at the end of the month.
Some Republicans have scoffed
at the idea that Lew should be Treasury Secretary. The decision to
replace Geithner with Lew could also disappoint critics hoping for
dramatic changes in Obama's second term, as HuffPost's Mark Gongloff and
Christina Wilkie reported earlier:
Throughout Obama's first term, Geithner has been constantly
criticized as looking out for the interests of Wall Street over Main
Street, particularly for what some critics say was his opposition to
mortgage relief for underwater homeowners out of concern for bank
profits. Lew seems likely to be less of a lightning rod than Geithner,
who is the protege of bank-deregulator Robert Rubin. Lew is widely seen
as a smart, tough negotiator and an able public servant.
But his professed lack of expertise in financial regulation, along
with his own tenure at Rubin's old firm, the original too-big-to-fail
bank, Citigroup, has raised warning flags among critics. They fear a Lew
Treasury might not aggressively push back financial industry efforts to
water down the Dodd-Frank financial-reform law or keep an eye out for
the next financial crisis.
Despite doubts, Lew has played a vital role in key past Obama negotiations. HuffPost's Sam Stein reported earlier:
White House Chief of Staff Jack Lew has been an unassuming
figure during the Obama years. His media appearances are dull; his
presentation is a bit bookworm-ish -- as if Harry Potter grew up and
replaced his magic wand with Excel spreadsheets. When he speaks, the
tone is usually measured and unemotional.
Behind the scenes, however, Lew has proven to be Obama's most
skillful consigliere in matters of political trench warfare. Time and
again during the debt ceiling debate, as Republicans attempted to get
the administration to bend on top domestic priorities, it was Lew who
proved to be a stick in the mud. Then serving as Office of Management
and Budget Director, his insistence on playing out the practical impact
of those cuts irritated Republicans to no end
Outgoing Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner is expected to leave his post at the end of the month.
Some Republicans have scoffed at the idea that Lew should be Treasury Secretary. The decision to replace Geithner with Lew could also disappoint critics hoping for dramatic changes in Obama's second term, as HuffPost's Mark Gongloff and Christina Wilkie reported earlier:
White House Chief of Staff Jack Lew has been an unassuming figure during the Obama years. His media appearances are dull; his presentation is a bit bookworm-ish -- as if Harry Potter grew up and replaced his magic wand with Excel spreadsheets. When he speaks, the tone is usually measured and unemotional. Behind the scenes, however, Lew has proven to be Obama's most skillful consigliere in matters of political trench warfare. Time and again during the debt ceiling debate, as Republicans attempted to get the administration to bend on top domestic priorities, it was Lew who proved to be a stick in the mud. Then serving as Office of Management and Budget Director, his insistence on playing out the practical impact of those cuts irritated Republicans to no end
Jacob Lew, Obama Nominee And Former Citigroup Executive, Doesn't Believe Deregulation Led To Financial Crisis
First Posted: 09/21/10 09:27 AM ET Updated: 05/25/11 06:45 PM ET