Report: Geithner might leave administration after a debt-limit deal

Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner is considering leaving the administration after the government reaches an agreement on whether to raise the debt limit, according to a media report.

Bloomberg News reported Thursday that Geithner has informed the White House that he is considering the move, but that he has not yet reached a decision yet. The report cites three anonymous sources.

{mosads}Geithner has emerged as the administration’s leading voice in the debt-limit debate, repeatedly urging lawmakers to raise the $14.3 trillion limit as soon as possible to avert an economic catastrophe.

If Geithner does decide to leave, his departure would mark the complete turnover of the president’s economic staff since he took office. Geithner was the lone holdout among top financial officials in the administration, after Austan Goolsbee, chairman of the president’s Council of Economic Advisers, announced his plans to return to academia in August.

Geithner joined the White House from the New York Federal Reserve Bank in the midst of the financial crisis, and played a vital role in steering the financial rescue efforts, including the Troubled Asset Relief Program. He reportedly has told the White House he is looking for a break from government service after his busy tenure at Treasury.