Sen. Rand Paul seeks no confidence vote on Geithner

Paul’s release noted that Geithner has played “a direct role” in economic failure by presiding over bank and auto bailouts and “failed trillion-dollar stimulus plans.”

Paul also indicated that Geithner was weighing down the Obama administration. “I think, really [Obama’s] only chance to turn his presidency around is to get somebody to replace Timothy Geithner,” he said Tuesday night on FOX News Channel’s “Hannity.”

“It really says that everything they are doing is not working,” Paul said of the stock market plunge. “Everything has gotten worse. Unemployment has gotten worse. Gas prices have doubled. The economy is growing, if at all, at a very anemic pace. We are not going to get out of this until we get a business-friendly administration.”

Carney said a motion like Paul’s “doesn’t really amount to much because obviously they’d like a different president to be in office.”

“So the idea that they want members of his team to go shouldn’t be all that shocking,” Carney said.
Other Republican calls for Geithner’s removal or resignation have been voiced by House Speaker John Boehner (Ohio), head of the Republican National Committee Reince Priebus, Sen. Jim DeMint (S.C.), and Reps. Michele Bachmann (Minn.), Allen West (Fla.), Pete Sessions (Texas) and Phil Gingrey (Ga.).

Sam Youngman contributed to this report.

–This post was updated at 1:26 p.m. and 2:08 p.m.