Hillary Clinton has been confirmed as Secretary of State and will now resign her senate seat thus paving the way for an announcement shortly by Governor David Paterson as to who her replacement will be..
Senate vote
Yea:94
Nay:2
Vitter
DeMint
John Cornyn decided to make an ass out of himself again, and then had to relent when Senator John McCain (R-AZ) stepped in to the fray and told Cornyn to back off. Who knew McCain had that in him...
The Senate on Wednesday began debating the nomination of Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) to become secretary of State after Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) dropped his objection to a unanimous consent request.
Cornyn said he would vote to confirm Clinton’s appointment but repeated his concern that President Bill Clinton’s charitable foundation opens the former first lady up to conflict-of-interest allegations. Both Clintons and the Obama administration have hammered out a memorandum of understanding about transparency, but Cornyn said greater steps are needed.
John Cornyn must have gotten quite a dressing down from HRC during their "heated" discussion at yesterday's luncheon for President Obama..which shows exactly why she is the right choice for Secretary of State..she drives a hard bargain...
From The Hill:
“My concern is not whether our colleague, Sen. Clinton, is qualified to be secretary of State or not,” Cornyn said. “She is, and I intend to vote for her confirmation, but I also believe it’s very important to flesh out some of the concerns that have been raised legitimately.
"I argued to Sen. Clinton [on Tuesday] — I did not argue, but I explained — my position that I thought greater transparency would make it better for her as she enters this new job as secretary of State, because any cloud or question that remains because of the lack of transparency hurts her and hurts the Obama administration at a time when we want it to succeed.”
Maybe the writing on the wall is finally being read. McCain read the memo, now it's time the rest of them did!
Clinton also won support from GOP presidential candidate John McCain (R-Ariz.) and his ally, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), both of whom said they believe Clinton will succeed in the job and that the country needs a secretary of State as quickly as possible, given growing tensions in the Middle East, North Korea and Afghanistan.
McCain: I would remind all my colleagues, we had an election and we also had a remarkable and historic time yesterday as this nation has come together in a way that it has not in some time. I like all good politicians pay attention to the president's approval ratings. They are very high. But more importantly, I think the message that the American people are sending us right now is that they want us to work together and get to work. I think we ought to let Senator Clinton, who is obviously qualified and obviously will serve, get to work immediately. And so I would ask unanimous consent at the completion of the remarks that any of my colleagues might have, that we initiate the vote at 4:30 and proceed by voice vote to the confirmation of Senator Hillary Clinton to be the next secretary of state of the United States of America.