Democrat DeFazio: Fire Tim Geithner
Dubbing White House economic adviser Larry Summers "an adviser from Wall Street" and Geithner – who he calls "Timmy" – "a Treasury Secretary from Wall Street," DeFazio suggested on MSNBC that the two men don't prioritize the best interests of average Americans.
"We think it is time, maybe, that we turn our focus to Main Street -- we reclaim some of the unspent [TARP] funds, we reclaim some of the funds that are being paid back, which will not be paid back in full, and we use it to put people back to work," he said, adding that Geithner and Summers "don't like that idea."
"They want to keep the TARP money either to continue to bail out Wall Street if there are future problems, or maybe…to pay down the deficit," he said. "That's absurd."
Asked if Geithner should stay in his job, DeFazio said no.
"Especially if you look back at the AIG scandal and Goldman [Sachs] and others who got their bets paid off in full," he said. "Instead of saying 'you bet, you lost,' they got paid back in full through AIG. We channeled the money through them."
"Geithner would not answer my question when I said, 'Were those naked credit default swaps by Goldman or were they a counterparty?' He said 'I will not answer that question," added DeFazio.
DeFazio said the Congressional Progressive Caucus is considering asking President Obama to remove Geithner.
The president is "being failed by his economic team," he said. "Their total orientation is Wall Street, not Main Street."