Jacob Lew, President Barack Obama's choice to be treasury secretary, testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, Feb. 13, 2013, before the Senate Finance Committee's confirmation hearing. The $85 billion in cuts would impose "self-inflicted wounds to the recovery and put far too many jobs and businesses at risk," Lew told the Senate Finance Committee Wednesday. During the hearing, Lew faced sharp questions from Republicans about his tenure at Citigroup during the 2008 financial crisis. He was also pressed about a nearly $1 million bonus he received while the bank was being bailed out by taxpayers. Several senators wanted to know more about Lew's brief time serving as chief operating officer for Citi's alternative investments unit. He took the job Jan. 2008 and held the position during the peak of the financial crisis, when Citi received a $45 billion bailout from the federal government. He left in early 2009 to join the Obama administration. Lew's unit had been criticized for making risky investments that imploded during the crisis. Lew told the panel that he did not make decisions about investments during that time. "I was not in the business of making investment decisions," he said. "I was aware of what was going on, but I wasn't designing" the investment funds. When pressed about a $940,000 bonus he received in early 2009, Lew said he was then an employee of the private sector. "I was compensated for my work," Lew said. I'll leave for others to judge. If confirmed, Lew will need to turn his attention immediately to the proposed cuts to both defense and domestic spending programs. But many other challenges await him.