WASHINGTON – The Senate yesterday cleared the way for Goldman Sachs chief Henry Paulson to be the country’s next Treasury secretary.

The chamber approved the nomination in a voice vote. The action came just hours after the nomination won the endorsement of the Senate Finance Committee, which oversees the Treasury Department.

Mr. Paulson, a 32-year Wall Street veteran, is the chairman and chief executive officer of Goldman Sachs Group Inc., a financial powerhouse.

Both Democrats and Republicans welcomed Mr. Paulson’s nomination.

“I am convinced he is the right man at the right time,” said Senator Wyden, a Democrat of Oregon, before yesterday’s vote.

Senator Bond, a Republican of Montana, called Mr. Paulson a “very strong choice for Treasury secretary.”

Beset by low job approval ratings, President Bush is looking to Mr. Paulson to help energize the administration’s stalled second-term economic agenda. The nomination was part of a flurry of other changes in the president’s personnel lineup.

The White House has not yet announced plans for Mr. Paulson’s swearing in.

Mr. Bush thanked the Senate for swiftly confirming Mr. Paulson.

“I look forward to working with Hank to keep our economy and financial markets strong, and to continue our efforts to choke off sources of terrorist financing,” Mr. Bush said in a statement.

During a nearly three-hour hearing on his nomination Tuesday, Mr. Paulson, 60, hewed closely to the Bush administration’s stance on a wide range of economic policies.

For instance, although he thought it was wise to trim the federal budget deficit, he said it would be a mistake to raise taxes to help fix the problem. He also said that he would focus on prodding China to revamp its currency policy, a practice critics blame for contributing to America’s record-high trade deficit and to the loss of American factory jobs.

He said he wanted to pursue efforts to crack down on abusive tax shelters, work on ways to collect billions in taxes owed to the American government, and explore ways to simplify the tax code. He also promised to review a once-secret Treasury program that gave the government access to a data base of international banking information to catch suspected terrorist financiers.