WASHINGTON (AP) — The Senate overwhelmingly
confirmed President Barack Obama's choice of five-term Sen. John Kerry
to be secretary
of state, with Republicans and Democrats praising him as the ideal
successor to Hillary Rodham Clinton.
The vote Tuesday was 94-3. One senator — Kerry — voted present and accepted congratulations from colleagues on the Senate
floor. The roll call came just hours after the Senate Foreign Relations Committee unanimously approved the man who has led
the panel for the past four years.
No date has been set for Kerry's swearing-in, but in a letter to Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick, Kerry says his resignation
is effective at 4 p.m. Friday. The State Departments plans a welcoming ceremony for Kerry on Monday.
Obama tapped Kerry, 69, the son of a diplomat, decorated Vietnam veteran and 2004 Democratic presidential candidate, to succeed
Clinton, who is stepping down after four years. The Massachusetts Democrat, who had pined for the job but was passed over
in 2009, has served as Obama's unofficial envoy, smoothing fractious ties with Afghanistan and Pakistan.
"Sen. Kerry will need no introduction to the
world's political and military leaders and will begin Day One fully
conversant
not only with the intricacies of U.S. foreign policy, but able to
act on a multitude of international stages," said Sen. Bob
Menendez, D-N.J., who will succeed Kerry as committee chairman.
Sen. Bob Corker of Tennessee, the panel's top Republican, called Kerry "a realist" who will deal with unrest in Egypt, civil
war in Syria, the threat of al-Qaida-linked groups in Africa and Iran's pursuit of nuclear weapons.
Kerry, a forceful proponent of climate change legislation, also will have a say in whether the United States moves ahead on
the Keystone XL pipeline from Canada, a divisive issue that has roiled environmentalists.
Obama had nominated Kerry after Susan Rice, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, removed her name from consideration
following criticism from Republicans over her initial comments about the attacks on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, Libya.
Voting against Kerry were three Republicans — Jim Inhofe of Oklahoma and John Cornyn and Ted Cruz of Texas. Absent from the
vote were Sens. Patty Murray, D-Wash., and John Hoeven, R-N.D.
"Sen. Kerry has a long history of liberal
positions that are not consistent with a majority of Texans," Cornyn
said in a statement.
The senator is up for re-election next year and could face a tea
party challenge.
Kerry's smooth path to the nation's top diplomatic job stands in stark contrast to the harsher treatment for Obama's other
national security nominees — Chuck Hagel to be defense secretary and John Brennan to be CIA director.
Hagel, the former two-term Republican
senator from Nebraska, faces strong opposition from some of his onetime
GOP colleagues
who question his support for reductions in the nuclear arsenal and
cuts in defense spending. Lawmakers also have questioned
whether he is sufficiently supportive of Israel and strongly
opposed to any outreach to Iran.
Democrats have rallied for Hagel, and he has
the announced support of at least a dozen members in advance of his
confirmation
hearing on Thursday. Sen. Thad Cochran of Mississippi will support
Hagel, a spokesman said Tuesday, making him the first Republican
to signal he will vote for the nomination.
Six Republicans have said they would vote
against him, with some opposing Obama's choice even before the
president's announcement.
Brennan faces questions from the GOP about
White House leaks of classified information and from Democrats about the
administration's
use of drones.
Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., threatened to
block the nomination of both men until he gets more answers from the
Obama administration
about the assault on the U.S. diplomatic mission in Libya that
killed Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans.
Graham, who earlier this month signaled he
would delay Brennan's pick, said in an interview Monday night with Fox
News' "On
the Record" the he would "absolutely" block Hagel unless Defense
Secretary Leon Panetta testifies about the attack in Benghazi,
Libya.
Clinton testified for more than five hours last Wednesday before the House and Senate, but that wasn't sufficient for Graham.
"Hillary Clinton got away with murder, in my
view," he said. "She said they had a clear-eyed view of the threats.
How could
you have a clear-eyed of the threats in Benghazi when you didn't
know about the ambassador's cable coming back from Libya?"
Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman
Carl Levin, D-Mich., told reporters Tuesday that a hearing with Panetta
on Libya
is planned though the date is uncertain. Graham welcomed that news
and said he would not thwart a committee vote on the nomination.
"Happy as a clam. News to me," said Graham, who met with Hagel for 20 minutes on Tuesday.
Pentagon spokesman George Little said Panetta had not responded yet to the request but that the department has been forthcoming
with information. He insisted that the Hagel confirmation process move as quickly as possible.
Two former chairmen of the committee —
Democrat Sam Nunn of Georgia and Republican John Warner of Virginia —
plan to introduce
Hagel, according to officials close to the confirmation process.
They spoke on condition of anonymity because the committee
has not formally made an announcement.
As a White House emissary, Kerry has tamped
down diplomatic fires for Obama. He also has stepped ahead of the
administration
on a handful of crises. He joined Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., as an
early proponent of a more aggressive policy toward Libya,
pushing for using military forces to impose a "no-fly zone" over
Libya as Moammar Gadhafi's forces killed rebels and other
citizens. He was one of the early voices calling for Egyptian
President Hosni Mubarak to step down as revolution roiled the
nation two years ago.
During his tenure, Kerry has pushed for
reducing the number of nuclear weapons, shepherding a U.S.-Russia treaty
through the
Senate in December 2010, and has cast climate change as a national
security threat, joining forces with Republicans on legislation
that faced too many obstacles to win congressional passage.
He has led delegations to Syria and met a few times with President Bashar Assad, now a pariah in U.S. eyes after months of
civil war and bloodshed as the government looks to put down a people's rebellion. Figuring out an end-game for the Middle
East country would demand all of Kerry's skills.
The selection of Kerry closes a political circle with Obama. In 2004, it was White House hopeful Kerry who asked a largely
unknown Illinois state senator to deliver the keynote address at the Democratic convention in Boston, handing the national
stage to Obama. Kerry lost that election to President George W. Bush. Four years later, Obama was the White House hopeful
who succeeded where Kerry had failed.