With the spirit of bipartisanship lingering in the Capitol Hill following the inauguration of President Obama, his former rival, Sen. John McCain, stepped in to try to get the Senate to speed up Hillary Clinton’s confirmation as secretary of state.
The Senate ultimately took the afternoon to debate Clinton’s nomination before finally voting to confirm her, but McCain’s move was one of the first concrete signs that congressional Republicans are indeed ready to work with the new Obama administration.
McCain, R-Ariz., told Senate Republicans that they had little choice but to work with Democrats, particularly given Obama’s high approval ratings.
“I would remind all my colleagues that we had … a remarkable and historic time yesterday and this nation has come together in a way that it has not in any other time,” McCain said on the Senate floor. “The message that the American people are sending us now is that they want us to work together and to get to work.”
Clinton was unable to begin her tenure as the nation’s top diplomat in time for Obama’s inauguration because Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, blocked a vote on her confirmation until Wednesday.
Cornyn wanted to debate the potential conflict of interest with her role as secretary of state and Bill Clinton’s foundation, which has accepted millions of dollars from foreign nations. Cornyn wants the foundation to more frequently disclose who is giving money and to ban foreign donors.
The former president has agreed to annual disclosure of new donors and to eliminate some foreign donations.
“We should not let our respect for the Clintons blind us to the perceived danger of conflict of interest caused by the solicitation of hundreds of millions of dollars from foreign sources,” Cornyn said.
Cornyn and Clinton appeared to be having an animated conversation inside the Capitol before Obama’s swearing in. And Cornyn confirmed on the Senate floor Wednesday that the topic was indeed her delayed nomination.
“I argued to Senator Clinton yesterday,” Cornyn said, quickly correcting himself. “Well, I didn’t argue, I expressed that greater transparency would make it better for her as she made her transition into secretary of state.”
