US News

V(ote)-Day for Lew

WASHINGTON — The Senate Finance Committee will vote tomorrow on the nomination of former White House Chief of Staff Jack Lew for treasury secretary, Sen. Max Baucus said yesterday.

Lew was questioned about his time in New York before joining the Obama administration, when he served as a vice president first at NYU and later, during the banking crisis, at Citibank.

Baucus (D-Mont.), the committee chair, said Lew answered all queries “in a thorough and fully transparent manner.”

Sen. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) grilled Lew over his compensation from NYU, which was found to have steered student loans to Citibank in exchange for kickbacks.

Meanwhile, Sen. Chuck Hagel, President Obama’s pick for defense secretary, goes before the full Senate today. Hagel, criticized as soft on Iran and hostile to Israel, is expected to be confirmed.

“I do not believe that Chuck Hagel, who is a friend of mine, is qualified to be secretary of defense,” Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) told CNN’s “State of the Union” yesterday. “That doesn’t mean we shouldn’t give him an up-or-down vote.”