Clinton Prepares For Confirmation Hearings On Capitol Hill
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With confirmation hearings set to begin Tuesday morning,
Senator Hillary Clinton will field questions from both sides of the political aisle over her bid to become the country's next Secretary of State. NY1's Michael Scotto filed the following report from the nation's capital.For the last eight years, Hillary Clinton has been the one asking questions in the Senate.
On Tuesday, she will be the one answering them, as her colleagues decide if she should become the next US Secretary of State.
"She has enormous capacity, intellectually and an understanding of the world," said Senator Robert Menendez (D-New Jersey).
Menendez sits on the Senate's Foreign Relations Committee, and expects Clinton will breeze through the hearing.
Senators typically sign off on the incoming president's cabinet picks, but Clinton will face some tough questions from Republicans over her husband's business dealings.
Former President Bill Clinton said if his wife is confirmed he will allow the state department to review overseas contributions to his foundation.
"I have no doubt that there are people on the committee who want to use that for political gain," said Menendez.
The focus of the hearings is expected to be on the major immediate issues facing the United States abroad. There's the conflict in the middle east as well as tension between India and Pakistan.
If Clinton is confirmed, her skills as a manager will be put to the test. The state department has tens of thousands of employees and is larger than any operation she has ever run.
"She's never run anything of this scale in the past. She's done a good job as a senator and impressed a lot of people, but senators don't run anything," said Georgetown University Professor Robert Lieber.
Madeline Albright, who served as Secretary of State in the Clinton administration, said the hardest part will be setting goals.
"I had too many priorities. Because you get in especially after there has been an administration of a different party and you've disagreed with it where you want to fix everything and do things differently and I think it's going to be hard to set priorities," said Albright.
Clinton will likely begin making those priorities next week. The expectation is that she will be confirmed the day Barack Obama is sworn in as president.