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Treasury chief staying put – Obama
23 Mar 2009Barack Obama hit the airwaves last night to defend under-fire Timothy Geithner amid fears the Treasury Secretary is not up to the job.
The President insisted Geithner had his full support and said that if he offered to resign the response from the White House would be: “Sorry buddy, you've still got the job.” It highlighted just how much pressure Geithner and the administration are under ahead of next month's G20 summit in London as they tackle the biggest financial crisis since the Great Depression.
Geithner has been heavily criticised in recent weeks for failing to provide solid details of what he plans to do to solve the crisis and today's proposals are a vital test.
Richard Selby, the top Republican on the Senate Banking Committee, said confidence in Geithner was “waning every day”. He added: “If he keeps going down this road, I think that he won't last long.”
