The nomination of Tom Daschle for the post of head of Health and Human Services Secretary has hit a snag as members of the Finance Committee are taking an exhaustive look at his tax records.
At this point, however, the issue is more about the Senate doing its due diligence than the discovery of anything incriminating, a source close to the process tells the Huffington Post.
The issue, according to the source, is related to some of the problems surrounding Timothy Geithner, the nomination for Secretary of the Treasury who failed to pay a portion of his income taxes until recently. Democrats do not want to have an embarrassing nugget of information present itself as a surprise, said a source. "I think they are just trying to be careful because of what happened with Geithner."
The slowing down of Daschle's nomination began last week when Republicans on the Finance Committee began poring over his tax document and association with an education-loan provider. Since then, however, Senate officials have taken an extra fine comb to the former majority leader's records. On Wednesday, the Washington Post reported that the process was "taking longer than expected."
A call to the Senate Finance Committee was not immediately returned. Geithner's confirmation hearings are scheduled for Wednesday and he is expected to be confirmed despite the embarrassing disclosures.