Help* for Geithner on the Way

With so many bailouts, anti-foreclosure plans and recession-mitigation strategies coming out of the Treasury Department in recent months, it’s easy to forget that Secretary Tim Geithner has been working all along without a right-hand man.

The Senate Finance Committee took a step to remedy that this morning, approving the nomination of former Clinton administration attorney Neal Wolin to become deputy secretary of the Treasury. You remember Wolin: A decade ago he helped then-Treasury Secretary Larry Summers — who’s now the top economic advisor to President Obama — draft the successful deregulations that blurred the lines between commercial banks, insurance companies and investment houses — a move that many experts say paved the way to the current economic turmoil.

So lawmakers are concerned about his judgment, right?

Wrong.

The vote on the Finance panel was unanimous. Here’s the statement from Finance Chairman Sen. Max Baucus (D-Mont.):

The Treasury Department has a colossal task in its management of the economic recovery. Secretary Geithner and other Treasury officials need support now in their efforts to stabilize markets and get capital flowing for American families and businesses. It’s our job to make sure the right nominees get up and running as soon as possible. We’ve taken the first step today in Committee, and I look forward to congratulating to Mr. Wolin on full Senate confirmation soon.

Sounds like he’ll fit in fine.