4 appear for nominee hearings; 5th delayed

Four of President-elect Barack Obama's high-level nominees appeared Thursday at confirmation hearings and a fifth learned his hearing has been uncomfortably delayed till next Wednesday, a day after Obama assumes office.

Timothy Geithner, Obama's choice for Treasury secretary, is becoming a national punchline for late-night comics, a clear sign that not paying your taxes is a growing problem if you're the guy tapped to oversee the IRS.

Obama and many of the senators involved in confirming Geithner maintain that concerns about his failure to pay $34,000 in taxes isn't enough to cost him the Treasury job, which includes oversight of the IRS.

But the delay in Geithner's confirmation hearing — now scheduled for Wednesday — means more time for the public's unease with Geithner's problems to build.

Transition aides have said Geithner paid the 2001 and 2002 self-employment taxes in November, even though legally he was not obligated to so many years later.

Regarding the other nominees:

• Interior-nominee, Colorado Sen. Ken Salazar, breezed through his hearing saying he would support some expansion of offshore oil drilling.

A moderate Democrat, Salazar, 53, said that expanded offshore oil and natural gas production would be part of an Obama administration energy plan.

Salazar indicated some offshore areas may be off limits, but others won't.

Salazar also said the Obama Interior Department would foster the development of alternative energy resources on public land, including wind farms and solar energy and geothermal energy development.

But he said the nation is not ready for shale oil development. "We need to look at it as part of a comprehensive energy plan, but we ought not be reckless or thoughtless about how we move forward," Salazar said.

The full committee is expected to easily send Salazar's nomination to the full Senate, which is expected to approve him for the post.

• Homeland Security-nominee, Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano told senators the agency needs to focus on transportation security and securing biological and chemical facilities in the private sector.

Napolitano said that, if confirmed, she would focus on areas that other departments are less engaged in — transportation security being one of them. "Let's go where the gaps are," she said.

To secure chemical and biological sectors, Napolitano said Homeland Security officials will have to work with academics at universities and research centers where many of these potentially dangerous materials are held.