(CNSNews.com) - House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank (D-Mass.) told CNSNews.com that Treasury Secretary nominee Timothy Geithner is qualified to serve despite his failure to properly pay at least $34,000 in taxes. Other members of Congress, including Sens. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) agreed, but some Republicans questioned the nomination.
 
As Treasury Secretary, Geithner would oversee the federal treasury and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).
 
According to documents released by the Senate Finance Committee, Geithner failed to make several tax payments as required when he worked at the International Monetary Fund and, in total with penalties, has had to pay $48,268 in back-taxes and penalties that go back as far as 2001. 
 
Geithner worked as director of the Policy Development and Review Department at the International Monetary Fund from 2001-2003. In October 2003, he was named the ninth president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, where he currently works. In 2006, he also became a member of the The Group of Trinity, a Washington-based financial advisory body.
 
According to The Wall Street Journal, Geithner was “repeatedly advised in writing by the International Monetary Fund that he would be responsible for any Social Security and Medicare taxes he owed on income he earned at the IMF between 2001 and 2004.” Bloomberg News also reported in November 2008 that Geithner’s salary in 2007 was $398,200, which is more than double Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke’s compensation who, along with Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, received a salary of $191,300 in 2008.
 
President-elect Obama told CBS News that his transition team knew of Geithner’s tax problems before he was nominated as Treasury secretary. It has been reported that Geithner made several tax payments soon after he learned he would be the nominee.
 
When asked if Geithner’s failure to properly pay his taxes disqualified him from being in charge of “America's purse,” several members of Congress gave their responses to CNSNews.com. Below is what they said.
 
Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) told CNSNews.com: “I think he is a very, very fine nominee and I think, while he admitted these were mistakes, and I think he will be confirmed.”
 
“No, I don’t think” Geithner should be disqualified, said Rep. Barney Frank (D.Mass.).
 
Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) told CNSNews.com: “No, I don’t” think this is a problem “and I’ll tell you why. I think he received advice from accountants, which turned out to be wrong. It seems like an innocent mistake – no conscious effort to try to avoid paying taxes. He made good on his tax liability as quickly as he learned and the situation with the domestic who worked there [and whose green card expired]. It seems to be that there was a change in her legal status for a few months and it is not something where you would assume he would know that--so I don’t. I think these were errors but innocent errors.”
 
Rep. Robert Aderholt (R-Al.) said: “I’ve heard about the concerns about the not paying the taxes, the withholding of taxes. You know, I would say, most of that stuff was, I think, was just honest mistakes. So, I mean, I think you have to count that in as it is -- honest mistakes.”
 
However, Aderholt said he is reserving judgment as to whether Geithner should be confirmed.
 
“I think he could still be valid but, like I said, I think this [merits] a little bit closer scrutiny, because of the offices, which he is being nominated for,” said Aderholt.  Again, if it was something that didn’t deal with the secretary of the treasury, to my understanding, that’s a department over the IRS, and he’s over the IRS as far as there’s an IRS commissioner. But it ultimately is under the umbrella of the Department of the Treasury. So that puts him in a little higher scrutiny.”
 
“So I’m still withholding judgment,” said Aderholt. “But I wouldn’t entirely say that it’d be unacceptable, but I think that’s something that we’ve got to look very closely at just because of the office that he’s going to.”
 
Rep. Raul Grijalva (D-Ariz.) told CNSNews.com: “I think both those issues [taxes and employing a worker with an expired green card] he can overcome, and he is overcoming. I don’t think those two issues are necessarily--that appear to be inadvertent mistakes which about anyone can make--and I don’t think they’re so compelling as to disqualify him for the position.”
 
Rep. Randy Neugebauer (R-Tex.) said: “I read that, and in the past some other cabinet appointees have been disqualified for that. I think what we have to do is make sure that we’re applying all of these standards equally. I heard some people say, ‘Well, this is a very important job, we should overlook certain things.’ I don’t know that that’s the standard we all use. So what I think as the Senate begins to vet these candidates, I think you ought to say, ‘Here are parameters that we think qualify someone to serve in that position or not.’”
 
Rep. G.K. Butterfield (D-N.C.) said: “He has vast experience, and we need his expertise, and if he had a couple of missteps along the way, I think that ought to be considered.”
 
In contrast, Rep. Joseph Cao (R-La.) told CNSNews.com: “I don’t think so. The secretary of the Treasury should be a person beyond any problems. If he had any kind of legal problems, ethics problems, I don’t think he should be” confirmed.
 
And Rep. Dan Burton (R-In.) said: “I think it ought to be investigated thoroughly, and if he knowingly didn’t pay his taxes, I don’t see how he should be confirmed. Now, if there were some reason for it, that he could explain, that’s another matter, because I understand he’s very bright. But that’s something that needs to be thoroughly explained.”