STEVE INSKEEP, Host:
President Obama's choice as his Treasury secretary is appearing before the Senate Finance Committee this morning. It's a confirmation hearing. The committee is deciding whether to approve Timothy Geithner, who was most recently head of the New York Federal Reserve Bank. The hearing was delayed a number of days because of some concerns over taxes that Geithner didn't pay years ago. NPR's Jim Zarroli is following the hearing. He joins us now live. Jim, good morning.
JIM ZARROLI: Good morning, Steve.
INSKEEP: So, what does Geithner say about, well, wanting to be the guy who runs the Treasury and he didn't pay some taxes?
ZARROLI: Well, he addressed it right away. He tried to explain what had happened, why he didn't make the payments. He said he had prepared his taxes himself using a tax preparation software program.
(SOUNDBITE OF CONFIRMATION HEARING)
ZARROLI: These were careless mistakes. They were avoidable mistakes. But they were unintentional. I should have been more careful.
ZARROLI: He was grilled by some of the senators. Senator Charles Grassley of Iowa, who's a very influential voice on the committee, asked him a series of questions about this, saying it shouldn't be swept under the rug, even asking him what kind of tax software he used. But I think then they moved pretty quickly away from that.
INSKEEP: Well, there certainly are other things to ask about because as the head of the New York Fed, this guy was central to this gigantic financial bailout which has been much criticized ever since Congress approved it last fall.
ZARROLI: Yeah. He said he knew the bailout program needed reforms. There were questions about the transparency of the way the money was distributed. A lot of confusion about the goals, which is certainly true. He said, we have to reshape and redesign the program. But he wasn't at all apologetic about what the government tried to do. He said, we confront extraordinary challenges, catastrophic loss of trust in the financial system, and a deep uncertainty about what the future holds.
(SOUNDBITE OF CONFIRMATION HEARING)
ZARROLI: Senators, the ultimate cost of this crisis will be greater if we do not act with sufficient strength now. In a crisis of this magnitude, the most prudent course is the most forceful course.
ZARROLI: He said, the government has to restore confidence in the financial system. And once it does that, it will have to - it will then go about unwinding some of the extraordinary interventions that have taken place to stabilize the system. And there has to be an attempt to address some of the regulatory issues, he said, that allowed this to happen. He also said the president will come before Congress hopefully in the next few weeks and lay out a plan to stabilize the financial system.
INSKEEP: Well, Jim Zarroli, given that the economy is in crisis, and he's a central player on the team, or would be if confirmed, does there seem to be now a rush to approve him?
ZARROLI: There are a lot of senators, especially Republicans, who are very unhappy with the way that the bailout program has gone. But on the other hand, there's - you know, there's so much uncertainty and fear right now, so I don't think that will be enough to derail his nomination. You know, when he was named, the stock market responded very positively. And if for some reason his nomination was jeopardized, I think you'd see the markets react pretty negatively.
INSKEEP: Jim, thanks very much.
ZARROLI: You're welcome.
INSKEEP: That's NPR's Jim Zarroli in New York.