Geithner says he will stay at Treasury

[August 08, 2011]  WASHINGTON (AP) -- Timothy Geithner has told President Barack Obama that he will remain on the job as Treasury secretary, ending speculation he would leave the administration.

The Treasury Department released a statement Sunday saying Geithner had informed the president of his decision to remain in the administration.

Geithner is the only remaining top official on Obama's original economics team.

In late June, people close to Geithner said he was considering leaving after the debt limit was raised in August. They said he was tired of commuting to New York, where his son will be finishing up his last year in high school.

However, various administration officials including White House chief of staff William Daley had been lobbying Geithner to stay. Geithner has enjoyed a close working relationship with Obama.

"The president asked Secretary Geithner to stay on at Treasury and welcomes his decision," White House spokeman Jay Carney said in a statement.

Geithner informed the president Friday morning that he had decided to remain in the Cabinet.

That discussion took place before credit rating agency Standard & Poor's informed Treasury officials Friday afternoon that they planned to downgrade the government's credit rating from AAA to AA-plus.

Investors are watching nervously to see how financial markets react to that announcement which came late Friday after markets had closed.

In addition, Geithner and other finance ministers from the world's largest economies have been discussing what actions need to be taken to stabilize markets following renewed worries about Europe's debt problems.

A series of Obama's economic advisors have departed including Lawrence Summers, the first head of the president's National Economic Council, and two of the president's chief economic advisers, first Christina Romer and then Austan Goolsbee, who left this past week.

Obama has also had to replace his first budget director, Peter Orszag.

Before joining Obama's administration, Geithner served as president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, a job that put him on the front lines of the central bank's efforts to battle the financial crisis and to get credit flowing more freely. He has a close working relationship with Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke.

During the Clinton administration, Geithner held top positions at the Treasury Department dealing with international financial crises that occurred during that administration.

[Associated Press; By MARTIN CRUTSINGER]

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