Timothy F. Geithner was confirmed Monday night by the Senate as the secretary of the Treasury after a sizable bipartisan majority concluded that his experience in government and finance outweighed concerns about recent disclosures that he had been delinquent in paying taxes.
Geithner was confirmed by a 60-34 Senate vote, after paying back more than $42,000 in unpaid taxes and interest that he owed before he was nominated.
Specter joined most other Republicans in voting against Geithner.
Specter said at a Pennsylvania Press Club luncheon before the vote that he was inclined to overlook Geithner's unpaid taxes because he doesn't want a long delay in the selection of a new treasury secretary.
Mr. Geithner, 47 years old, was due to be sworn in immediately after the Senate vote in a ceremony at the Treasury Building adjacent to the White House.
What had been widely expected to be a quick and overwhelming Senate vote of confidence was complicated earlier this month by the disclosure that for the years 2001 to 2004, when he was a senior official at the International Monetary Fund, Mr. Geithner failed to pay federal taxes for Social Security and Medicare. He paid the taxes for 2003 and for some compensation in 2004 after the Internal Revenue Service audited him in 2006, but the statute of limitations had run out on the 2001 and 2002 liabilities.
Mr. Geithner paid those in November after Obama officials vetting his potential nomination raised the matter.
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