tribally i have this right 80 percent of that and adept as excess reserve. given that much capital sitting on the sideline at us '02 negative zero interest-rate environment, why do you believe further quantitative easing will cause entrepreneurs and job creators to put this capital to work? . .er: under

the previous order there will be eight hours of debate equally divided in the usual form. mr. baucus: madam president, america's first treasury secretary alexander hamilton once said -- and i quote -- "the confidence of the people will easily be gained by a good administration. this is the true touchstone. hamilton's words take on a new prominence today as we test our

next treasury secretary to gain the trust of the american people and restore confidence in our nation's economy. 19 of 24 senators in the senate finance committee voted yesterday on a bipartisan basis in favor of jack lews's nomination. senators on both sides of the aisle spoke to his character and to his integrity. he's well qualified to be the nation's next treasury secretary and equipped to restore confidence and trust in our economy. that will be his touchstone. i am certainly not alone in supporting mr. lew for the crucial role as the administration's top advisor on economic policy. yesterday's overwhelming support for mr. lew came after one of the most thorough reviews of any candidate for the position. a process that includes hours of interviews with mr. lew, the

examination of six years of tax records, and more than 700 questions for the record. in comparison, the committee asked secretary geithner 289 questions, secretary paulson 81 and secretary snow 75 questions. mr. lew has met personally with more than 40 senators since being nominated for treasury secretary last month, answering questions and addressing any concerns. throughout the confirmation process, mr. lew has been open and transparent. and as i hope a vote here in the senate will soon show, he has gained the trust and the confidence of many in this chamber. mr. lew has a long and distinguished career focused on public service with experience in both academia and on wall street. most recently he is the white house chief of staff. he has also served as budget director for the office of management and budget in the

current administration and under president clinton where i'll note he helped guide our nation through one of the greatest periods of economic growth in america's history. mr. lew has also served in the u.s. department of state as deputy secretary for management and resources. mr. lew has demonstrated time and again that he has the experience and knowledge to help get the nation's economy back on track. we need a strong man at the helm to help tackle the many fiscal challenges facing our nation, and i believe jack lew is that man. just two days from now, on march 1, across-the-board budget cuts, known as the sequester, will hit. $85 billion in federal spending will be sliced from thousands of programs, including medicare, rural development and early education. the nonpartisan congressional budget office predicts the cuts will slow the economic recovery and result in another year of sluggish growth and high

unemployment. i firmly believe we need to cut our debt and get our fiscal house in order. we know there are places to trim the fat. the american public knows that certainly. but we need to take a scalpel to waste inefficiency and not allow a habgt to cut into american jobs. our economy will be put to the test again in just weeks when the continuing resolution expires on march 27. we face the threat of a government shutdown. and on the horizon the federal borrowing limit will be reached in late may. that will require another extension of the debt ceiling. madam president, this is no way to run a country. congress has been lurching from one fiscal showdown to the next leaving the nation with uncertainty. the only way we'll be able to get past these budget battles is by working together. we all know that. we need to start doing it. republicans, democrats, members

of the house and the senate need to work together to put in place policies that create more jobs and spark economic growth. it's deeds, not words. we've had enough words about working together. we got to start actually forming the deeds and working together. and we'll lea need to work with mr. lew to put the nation's economies back on track. we have to get off this roller coaster of a ride. there's no stability, no certainty going from one fiscal crisis to the next is undermining our economy. to give families and businesses certainty, we must agree on a balanced, comprehensive plan to utah can the debt that includes both revenue and spending cuts. the math will not work any other way. a long-term balanced plan will make real progress toward solving our deficit problem. a balanced plan will also

encourage businesses to invest, enable investors to return to the markets with confidence, and mo most importantly put americans back to work in a growing economy. more jobs, more good-paying jobs. we need more certainty, predebilitatpredictability. over the past two years, every week we'd get the phone, it was 9:45 on wednesdays and about month a month we'd physically get together. no matter where we were and what we were doing, we'd always try to pick up the phone once a week to check in. it was on the minute, 9:45. neither -- each of us knew the other was going to be there. secretary geithner and i grew to become good friends and reeledly trust each other. our families started to have dinner together, do things

together. it is the trust and confidence that is so necessary -- which is necessary to work together to make things happen. the conversations proved invaluable as we worked to overcome numerous economic challenges. i continue the outrage o outreah mr. lew. i am going to keep it up. i know he wants to, too. it is very heartening, frankly. he has been very open and receptive and seger to work with all of us, all of us here in the congress to strengthen america's economy. he wants to do a good job and he knows he must talk and communicate with us in order do that. working together will be key to promoting economic growth and stability. now, if confirmed by the senate today, one of mr. lew's first acts as treasury secretary will be affixing his signature to all new federal reserve notes. i'm not sure if people will be

able to read his loopy signature. it's been -- it's an inside joke that sometimes people have a hard time reading his handwriting. but i'm -- but anyway his signature will be on the federal reserve notes. that loopy signature is described as looking more like a stretched out slinky than a name. but mr. hugh lou promised the president that if confirmed he will work to make at least one letter legible in order not to deface america's currency. we will hold him to that promise. in addition to the signature of america's treasury, the front of every u.s. dollar bill has the seal of the united states treasury. look closely. you will see the symbols of balancing scales that represent justice. there is a chevron containing 13 stars, which represent the 13

original colonies. and underneath the emblem is a key which notes treasury's official authority. if confirmed, we'll be entrusting mr. lew with the authority to oversee america's financial system and economic policy. he will play a critical role in the upcoming debates on spending policies. we will be relying on him to ensure our government and finances are sound. we'll be asking him to work with us to return some stability and qualified to our economy. we'll be asking him to work with us to ensure the united states remains a great world power in this competitive global economy. it is a great responsibility he has, one in which i believe mr. lew will live up to. madam president, 224 years ago, this body, the united states

senate, approved the first cabinet position for this young nation when they unanimously approved alexander hamilton to be the first secretary of the treasury. i ask my colleagues to confirm mr. lew today to th as the natis 76th treasury secretary, so he can get to work and help strengthen our commitment of thank you, madam president. i yield the floor. the presiding officer: the nuclear from utah. mr. hatch: madam president, i rise to speak about the nomination of mr. jacob lew lou to be secretary of the treasury. with our growing economy, the next treasury secretary will going to have a lot on his plate. we've worked on the finance committee to vet mr. lew, to examine his background and cree exdids, and provide a complete picture of his qualifications for this post.

i would like to offer a few comments about our review process, what we learned and ane reservations about the nominee that remain with me now that this process complete. madam president, met me begin by saying a few words about the process itself. for well over a did, the finance committee has followed a specified procedure when considering executive branch nominations. sadly, that procedure was not followed in the case plaintiff lew. after publicly announcing his nomination, the white house waited 26 days before submitting any of his paperwork. that was a an atypically long g- long delay and slowed the vetting process. the nomination hearing wag scheduled to be held only 12 calendar days after the paperwork was received, even though the nominee had not yet answered ology of the questions that were submitted to him.

that is simply not the way our process has worked in the past and the undue haste hampered our ability to examine his background and qualifications. once the hearing was completed, as is cuss customary, members submitted written time anonymous administration sources have decided -- have decried the very notion that members of the finance committee had the audacity to ask hundreds of questions of mr. lew. madam president, let me be clear. i will vigorously defend the right of any member of congress regardless of party to ask questions of nominees until they are satisfied that they have obtained all the relevant information, and especially in the case of a treasury

secretary, which is one of the most important assignments in our government today and always has been. going all the way back to the time of alexander hamilton, and we know what he meant to this country in steak the financial system of this country. and he was secretary of treasury. in the case of mr. lew, there were several reasons why he ended up being asked numerous questions. first, the nomination process, as i mentioned, was abbreviated due to the haste of the administration. that meant the questions which in the ordinary course of business could have been resolved through discussion had to be asked in written form. second, due to the general unresponsiveness of the administration to reques requesr information over the last few years, there is a pent-up demand for information. third, mr. lew's responses to many questions have been opaque.

he has dessembled often. the only way to get answers to straightforward questions was to continue to ask for clarifications in an attempt to break through the wall of object obfuscation that mr. lew had constructed. he could have answered most of these questions in much less numerical form than he did. even after extensive questioning, there remains several serious concerns with mr. lew's background, his lack of responsiveness and the evasive manner in which heanced many questions posed to him. many of these concerns will go unaaddressed as mr. lew seems to be following the stonewalling strategy used by so many officials in this administration, the obama administration. for years now, administration officials have gone out of their their. mr. inouye: to be unre-- -- mr. hatch: for years now administration officials have gone out of their way to be

unresponsive. the legitimate inquiries submitted to the executive branch go for months at a time. requested deadlines are disregarded. when responses are given, substantive and direct questions are given meaningless political answers. this has gone on far too long and it has to stop. mr. lew for his part has promised me that he would be responsive to inquiries submitted by members of congress and while his answers to questions throughout the confirmation process give me reason to doubt his commitment to being responsive, i intend to hold him to that promise. i believe he is an honorable man. madam president, i would like to take a uminutes to address some additional concerns i have about mr. lew, his background and his qualifications for this post and that has been raised.

let's consider mr. lew's citigroup years. he was managing director and chief operating officer of two units -- global wealth management and citigroup alternative wealth investments. mr. lew said that while managing directing and operating those citigroup units he essentially undertook backroom operations like eliminating redundancies and things of that nature. mr. lew has stated that he did not design financial products at citigroup or make portfolio decisions or in his words opine on investments. in fact, when asked about investment products that were marketed and sold by the citigroup units that he oversaw, he could not remember any specific details. it has to be noted that some of those investments gentlemen of the jury rated enormous losses for investments. funds called mat, asta, and

falcon, which were marketed, sold, and managed by the citigroup units that mr. lew oversaw understanded up being the subject of lawsuits and arbitration claims where success was based -- where success was based on investors convincing arbitrators that the funds were misrepresented and mismanaged by citigroup. the losses to investors from these funds numbered in the billions. in fact, some financial advisors at citigroup protested internally that the misrepresented securities caused enormous damage to citi's represent tails of the one of in lew's bosses argued on behalf of investors and against citi's stock price and bottom line by saying that the investors had been wronged and should be made whole. she was subsequently fired. from all information i have seen, mr. lew did not similarly stand up for wronged investors

while on wall street. perhaps that is because he did not know what was going on in the firm. -- or at his firm. we don't really know. despite the fact that the funds in question led to probably the largest losses in the history of the units that mr. lew ever saw, mr. lew claims that he cannot recall anything about them. if you ask anyone familiar with the funds and controversies surrounding them, they will tell you that you will have -- that you would have to have been away on a deserted island to not have heard about the problems that these funds faced. yet once again mr. lew continues to deny having any memory of them. but at the same time mr. lew claims that while he was at citigroup he learned a lot about financial markets and the dangers of risks. indeed, he cited his experience at cit citi as a qualification r treasury secretary even though he appears to have little recollection about any of the

actual details of his work at that time -- or at least the financial details. the question remains, how could mr. lew operate, manage be, and direct units and also be in charge of staffing decisions without having any knowledge of the financial products that were marketed, sold, and managed by these very same units? it remains unclear. had there been a traditional vetting process, perhaps we could have gotten to the bottom of this mystery. as it is, we are only left to speculate, as you can see. in addition to mr. lew's lack of knowledge about some of the high-profile failures of the units he was overseeing, there are legitimate concerns relating to his compensation while at citigroup. ongoing january 29, 2009, president obama made remarks about wall street saying institutions were -- quote -- "teetering on collapse and they are asking for taxpayers to help sustain them." unquote. the president also remarked on

wall street bonuses at the time saying -- quote -- "that is the height of irresponsibility. it is shameful." unquote. about wall street executives, he said that -- quote -- "there will be a time for them to get bonuses. now is not the time." unquote. elsewhere he referred to wall street bonuses as -- quote -- "obscene." unquote. in late 2008 and early 2009, american taxpayers provided over $45 billion -- that's with a "b" -- in direct assistance to citigroup and backed hundreds of billions of citigroup assets. at the same time in january 2009, mr. lew reportedly received over $940,000 of compensation, most of which was a bonus for work performed in 2008 when citi was on the verge of collapse. the bonus came a day before citi yet another infusion of billions of dollars of taxpayer money to

prop the company up. that was the day before citigroup received the infusion of billions of dollars that he got that bonus. there is at the very least a contradiction between the president's rhetoric with regard to wall street and his decision to appoint mr. lew to be treasury secretary. however, rather than acknowledging any such contradiction, mr. lew simply and repeatedly told us all that his compensation was in line with what other similarly situated executives received. as i've said before, that justification seems a bit like saying "gee, dad, everyone was doing it." unfortunately, that type of reasoning is exactly what led to the financial crisis. in addition to an employment agreement mr. lew had with citigroup had a clause stating his guaranteed incentive and retention award would not be paid upon his exit from

citigroup. however, there was an exception indicating that he would receive that compensation -- quote -- "as a result of his acceptance of a full-time high-level position with the united states government or regulatory body." it remains unclear how this exception is consistent with president obama's efforts to, in his own words, close -- quote -- "close the revolving door that carries special interest influence in and out of the government." unquote. of course as has been widely reported during the course of our vetting process, we found that while he was at citigroup, mr. lew actively chose to invest in a hedge fund that served as a venture capital-like fund that invested primarily overseas. what mr. lew invested in was based in the cayman islands at the infamous ugland house that

democrats decried as a tax haven. in 2008 while campaigning for president, then-senator obama said that the ugland house was -- quote -- "either the biggest building in the world or the biggest tax scam in the world." unquote. throughout the 2012 campaign, president obama repeatedly attacked mitt romney for having funds invested in the caymans. and if i recall it correctly, mitt romney's funds were in a trust that he had no control over. in making such investments, governor romney wasn't aware of the obama campaign betting against americans. one can only wonder with if mr. lew supported this line of attack. once again mr. lew has repeatedly refused to acknowledge any contradiction or hypocrisy between the president's rhetoric or his own actions defending himself only

by saying that this investment was done legally and transparently. i think the same probably could have been said about governor romney's investment as well, that it was in a blind trust. the contrast between the president's past vilification of certain -l financial activities and individuals and mr. lew's participation in these activities is striking. yet we are now essentially being told that people should do as administration officials say, not as they do. in addition to concerns about mr. lew's record, i have serious disagreements with him when it comes to policy. for example, in response to written questions, mr. lew backtracked from the administration's previous position on the need for entitlement reform. at one time commonsense reforms like raising the medicare eligibility age were on the table for the obama

administration. such ideas have apparently been discarded by the president, and mr. lew has made it clear that he shares that discarding position. as a social security and medicare trustee, the treasury secretary cannot wish away the problems with our entitlement programs. if he's confirmed -- and i believe he will be -- mr. lew will be tasked with addressing these problems. sadly, it appears he will be just another voice in the obama administration against taking meaningful action on entitlements and in favor of higher taxes, a repetitive theme that at least all of us republicans are getting very sick of. and the use of the word "balance," my gosh. madam president, i think i've made my concerns about the lew nomination very clear. that being said, i've always believed that whoever is president, including our current

president, who i like, any president really, regardless of party is owed a certain degree of deference when choosing people to work in his administration. though i personally would have chosen a different person for this position i intend to vote for mr. lew's confirmation. my vote in favor of mr. lew comes with no small amount of reservation and i don't fault any of my colleagues for choosing to vote against him. indeed, i share many of their same concerns. as i mentioned earlier, mr. lew has promised to be responsive to members of congress in their requests for information. i expect him to be responsive to the senate finance committee and to the convince on the senate finance committee as well as the democrats. he promised to work in a bipartisan marine to address the problems facing our nation.

-- bipartisan marine to address the problems facing our nation. i believe mr. lew can, hopefully will do that. my hope is that he does not view these promises as merely boxes checked off on the way to confirmation. madam president, if confirmed, mr. lew will be the secretary of the treasury of the united states and not the secretary of the obama treasury, although indirectly he will be. his first job is to the united states of america, and he might have to argue strenuously against some of the administration -- or the white house positions on financial matters and treasury matters. he has to work for all the american people and not simply one political party. if he does those things, i will be willing to work with him all the way. and i have to say i expect him to. i expect him to be the honorable

man that he has told me he is and that i believe him to be. otherwise, i couldn't vote for him especially under these circumstances. however, i have to say that if he fails to live up to the promises he's made, if he begins just another obama accolade using his high-powered position in the administration to attack political opponents, i will personally be sorely disappointed. and hurt by it. and if that ends up being the case, he will have no greater adversary in the senate. i don't want to be an adversary. i want to help him turn this country around. i want to be an asset to him up here. and i want him to be an asset to our country down there. and up here when he comes up tkpweufpblt. given my reservations and concerns about mr. lew, i hope he and the president take note that i am bending over backwards

to display deference to the president's choice of treasury secretary. this choice i hope will not be in vain. i can contrast mr. lew's positions when he worked in the clinton administration. many republicans felt that he was a straight-up guy, and i was one of them. and i've suggested to him that we would like to see that type of a person manage our treasury and tpho that partisan person that we've seen in the last couple of years. true, the position he had at the white house was a partisan position, and i make great allowance for that. i personally believe he's a good man. and i also believe that sometimes we can get so caught up in politics that we don't do what we really know we should do. i'm hoping he will. i believe he will. and if he does, he's going to have a lot of support from me. i want to thank my chairman of

the committee who has always been very honorable and very straightforward. and i understand a lot of the pressures that he has had throughout this process. having been chairman a number of times myself in the senate with various presidents. so i just want everybody it know that this is an important, important position. this is an important human being, and i hope he lives up to all that he has the capacity to live up to.