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Today in Testy Senate Confirmation Hearings

Jack Lew, Obama’s nominee for Treasury Secretary, faces tough questions

by
Adam Chandler
February 13, 2013
(ABC)
(ABC)

Jack Lew, already the highest-ranking Orthodox Jew in the history of the United States government (and subject of a stellar profile by Yair Rosenberg), is the latest of President Obama’s cabinet nominees to face the fury of a Senate committee.

Lew, who is Obama’s chief of staff and is up for Treasury Secretary, is currently sitting before the Senate Finance Committee facing some tough questions about his tenure at Citibank, where he became chief operating officer of its alternative investments unit. Citibank also received a pretty sizable government bailout.

Lew’s unit had been criticized for making risky investments that imploded during the crisis. But Lew said during a Senate Finance Committee hearing that he did not make investment decisions in his job.

If you’re interested in following the proceedings and all the financial policy minutiae–first of all, bless your heart–there is a LIVEBLOG of the hearing over at WonkBlog.

Start with the profile first though, you won’t be disappointed.

Adam Chandler was previously a staff writer at Tablet. His work has appeared in the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, the Atlantic, Slate, Esquire, New York, and elsewhere. He tweets @allmychandler.