Obama Stands By Daschle Pick Despite Tax Problem

Reuters and AP
Sunday, Feb 1, 2009

U.S. President Barack Obama sought Saturday to rally support for his emerging economic rescue package, as he stood by his latest cabinet nominee to run into tax problems that could impede Senate confirmation.

Obama, in his second weekly radio address since taking office, pledged to help lower Americans’ mortgage costs under a new plan he said would be unveiled soon and would help revive the financial system and “get credit flowing again.”

And most Republican governors have broken with their GOP colleagues in Congress and are pushing for passage of President Barack Obama’s economic aid plan that would send billions to states for education, public works and health care.

Their state treasuries drained by the financial crisis, governors would welcome the money from Capitol Hill, where GOP lawmakers are more skeptical of Obama’s spending priorities.

The 2008 GOP vice presidential nominee, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, scheduled meetings in Washington this weekend with Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky and other senators to press for her state’s share of the package.

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• A d v e r t i s e m e n t

Florida Gov. Charlie Crist worked the phones last week with members of his state’s congressional delegation, including House Republicans. Vermont Gov. Jim Douglas, the Republican vice chairman of the National Governors Association, planned to be in Washington on Monday to urge the Senate to approve the plan.

But even as Obama moved to confront the mounting economic crisis, he was facing a new political distraction—the disclosure that Tom Daschle, picked to spearhead U.S. health care reform, failed to pay more than $128,000 in taxes.

It was the latest glitch in Obama’s effort to complete his cabinet and focus on his administration’s top priorities. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner’s nomination was held up earlier by criticism over late payment of $34,000 in taxes.

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