Confirmations of Barack Obama's Cabinet him "very, very competent" and "the right guy" for Secretary of the Treasury. On January 26, 2009, the U.S. Senate confirmed Geithner's appointment by a vote of 60–34. Geithner was sworn in as Treasury Secretary by Vice President Joe Biden and witnessed by President Obama. Geithner left the administration at the end of January 25, 2013. On January 10, 2013, Jacob Lew, then the President's Chief of Staff was nominated as the replacement for retiring Treasury Secretary Geithner, to serve in President Obama's second term. Lew's nomination was confirmed by the full Senate on Wednesday, February 27, 2013 by a
Confirmations of Barack Obama's Cabinet by the Energy and Natural Resources Committee. Nobel Prize–winning scientist Steven Chu was unanimously confirmed by the U.S. Senate on January 20, 2009. On January 21, 2009, Chu was sworn in as Secretary of Energy in the Barack Obama administration. Chu is the first person appointed to the Cabinet after having won a Nobel Prize. He is also the second Chinese American to be a member of the Cabinet after Elaine Chao. On February 1, 2013, Secretary Chu announced his resignation pending the confirmation of a successor. On March 4, 2013 President Obama announced he was nominating Ernest Moniz as