Wolin to temporarily take top slot at Treasury

By Bernie Becker - 01/25/13 01:46 PM ET

Neal Wolin, the current No. 2 at Treasury, will temporarily take over the top slot after Timothy Geithner leaves the department after Friday.

President Obama has nominated his chief of staff, Jack Lew, to take over for Geithner as Treasury secretary. But Lew has only just started making the rounds with senators, and the White House has asked Wolin to remain at the department to smooth the transition process.

"The President feels very strongly that Jack Lew is an excellent and highly qualified nominee, and he hopes that the Senate will move expeditiously to confirm him," Jay Carney, the White House press secretary, told reporters on Thursday. "We have a highly qualified deputy Treasury Secretary who remains in place — Neal Wolin."

Democrats expect Lew to win confirmation, though at least one prominent Republican, Sen. Jeff Sessions (Ala.), and a member of the Democratic Caucus, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), have announced they will oppose the nomination. Top Democrats like Sens. Chuck Schumer (N.Y.) and Max Baucus (Mont.), the Finance Committee chairman, have already announced their support for Lew.

Geithner is exiting as Congress is dealing with the debt ceiling, though the Senate appears likely to take up a House GOP measure to take the debt limit off the table until at least May.

Wolin, in addition to his four years as deputy Treasury secretary under Obama, also served under Robert Rubin and Larry Summers at Treasury during the Clinton administration.

He has been Treasury's lead defender of both the Dodd-Frank overhaul of financial regulations and its implementation.

"There will, of course, continue to be disagreements and opposition as we move forward. There will be critics and naysayers. But those who are charged with implementing reform have not forgotten why we needed reform," Wolin said in a 2011 speech. "We needed reform because we can’t afford another crisis."

This post was updated at 2:20 p.m.