Senate confirms another nominee for Treasury job

WASHINGTON -- Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner is no longer alone. The Senate on Friday confirmed another Obama Treasury nomination.

By voice vote, the Senate approved the nomination of David S. Cohen to be Treasury's assistant secretary for terrorist financing.

Cohen is the first official other than Geithner to win Senate confirmation since the new administration took office in January.

President Obama has been criticized for the slow pace in filling jobs at Treasury in the midst of the country's worst financial crisis in seven decades.

Obama, however, has said the problem has been that many people considering Treasury jobs have withdrawn rather than face what the president called a confirmation process that "has gotten pretty tough."

In late March, Obama nominated several people for top Treasury jobs including Neal Wolin, who served as general counsel at Treasury during the Clinton administration, to be deputy Treasury secretary, the agency's No. 2 post. Those people are still awaiting Senate confirmation.

Geithner has been assisted in the first three months of the administration by a team of special counselors who do not need Senate confirmation.