Mandel Ngan / AFP - Getty Images, file

Jack Lew testifies before the Senate Finance Committee on Feb. 13.

The Senate has confirmed Jack Lew, a former budget director and chief of staff to the president, as the next secretary of the treasury.

The vote was 71 to 26.

Lew's critics said he failed to adequately explain why he received a hefty severance package when he voluntarily left his job as an executive vice president at New York University.

Lew left the school in 2006 to take a position at Citigroup Inc., a post that some said made him too cozy with big banks. 

But foes failed to muster enough opposition to prevent the wonky former Office of Management and Budget chief from ascending to the Treasury Department job -- one that sits at the center of debate over the nation's spending and debt.

By a vote of 19 to 5, the Senate Finance Committee voted Tuesday to recommend Lew for a full Senate vote.

All five of the votes against him came from Republican committee members; six Republicans on the committee supported him.

Lew, a native of New York City, began his career in Washington in 1973 serving as a legislative aide. He went on to spend nine years as chief domestic policy adviser to House Speaker Tip O'Neill.

He most recently served as the president's chief of staff, a post he took in January 2012.

Lew accumulated minor Twitter fame for his cartoonishly illegible signature, which by law will appear on U.S. bills.

The president himself poked fun at Lew's penmanship upon making the nomination, saying that his pick had promised to make at least one letter of his signature legible "in order not to debase our currency."

This story was originally published on Wed Feb 27, 2013 6:09 PM EST

The Senate Finance Committee voted 19-5 on Tuesday to report Jack Lew's nomination as Treasury Secretary to the full Senate. 

Lew's nomination moved a step closer to final confirmation before the full Senate with the finance panel's approval, though a floor vote isn't scheduled yet.

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Five Republicans joined with all of the committee's Democrats in supporting Lew. Five Republicans opposed Lew.

Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, voted yes, but criticized the administration for being reluctant to answer questions about nominees. Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, voted no, citing concerns about Lew's ties to Citigroup, which received federal bailout money.

Chip Somodevilla / Getty Images file

President Obama is expected nominate Jack Lew, left, as the Treasury Secretary, replacing Timothy Geithner, right, pictured here during a press conference Sept. 19, 2011 in Washington, D.C.

Updated 12:15 p.m. ET -- President Barack Obama will announce current White House Chief of Staff Jack Lew as his pick to be the next Secretary of the Treasury, CNBC's John Harwood confirmed Wednesday. The announcement could come as early as Thursday.

Lew, who previously served as budget director under Obama and President Bill Clinton, has long been considered the frontrunner to replace departing Secretary Timothy Geithner, the last remaining member of Obama's first-term economic team.

A former investment banker and Capitol Hill aide, Lew was instrumental in crafting the August 2011 debt deal that created the automatic tax increases and spending cuts narrowly avoided in the New Year's "fiscal cliff" agreement.

Those negotiations didn't make Lew a hero to congressional Republicans, who were reportedly irked by his style. Journalist Bob Woodward wrote in his book "The Price of Politics" that top aides to House Speaker John Boehner found Lew "disrespectful and dismissive" and "obnoxious" during the talks.

But, despite the bruising fight set up by the cliff built in the August talks, Lew's strategy ultimately helped set up what observers have deemed a political victory for Obama early in 2013.

A 57-year-old native of New York City, Lew's long familiarity with Capitol Hill began when he took a job as a legislative aide in 1973. He went on to serve for nine years as chief domestic policy adviser to House Speaker Tip O'Neill.

While Lew's announcement is expected soon, per CNBC's Harwood, it's not clear that the president has settled on his new choice for chief of staff.

Deputy National Security Adviser Denis McDonough and former Biden chief of staff Ron Klain are both seen as potential Lew replacements.

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