Senate Panel OKs Jack Lew

The Senate Finance Committee has given Jack Lew its stamp of approval, pushing forward his semi-contentious nomination as secretary of the Treasury by a 19-5 vote, reports Politico. Max Baucus, the panel's Democrat chairman, said ahead of the vote that Lew had answered all questions "in a thorough and fully transparent manner" and had undergone a "thorough review." “Though I would have chosen a different person for this particular post, I intend to defer to President Obama with regard to the Lew nomination,” said the committee's top Republican, Orrin Hatch. Lew's nomination now heads to the full Senate; he would succeed Tim Geithner. (More Jack Lew stories.)