Geithner Denies Signaling His Departure

Posted on Jul 1, 2011

Flickr / World Economic Forum (CC-BY-SA)

“I think he’s done a great job in a back-breaking position,” former President Clinton said of Geithner, pictured.

Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner denied in an interview with former President Bill Clinton recent reports that he was considering stepping down from his post after Congress hammers out an agreement on the federal debt limit later this summer.

Speculation about his possible departure pointed to the fact that Geithner commutes between New York and Washington so his son can continue attending high school in New York. But Geithner told Clinton he would keep working and making the commute “for the foreseeable future.”

But perhaps a more relevant indicator, as The Los Angeles Times points out, may be that the last 10 treasury secretaries spent about 32 months in the job, on average. Geithner has so far served 29.  —BF

The Los Angeles Times:

Bloomberg News reported Thursday that Geithner has signaled to the White House he might want to step down after the conclusion of the difficult negotiations, in which he has been deeply involved. The nation is set to hit its debt limit Aug. 2.

The report said one factor was the desire of Geithner’s son to attend his last year of high school in New York, where the family lived before Geithner joined the administration in 2009. Geithner and his wife, Carole Sonnenfeld Geithner, have two children and live in Bethesda, Md., but still own a home in Larchmont, N.Y.

Geithner said he would continue as Treasury secretary after the school year begins in the fall.

“My son’s going back to New York to finish high school,” he told Clinton.  “I’m going to be commuting for a while, but I’m going to be doing this for the foreseeable future.”

Geithner is the last remaining member of the team of top economic advisors President Obama brought with him into his administration, and his potential departure has been the subject of conjecture since just a couple of months into the job.

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