Kerry gets Senate nod as next state secy
31 Jan 2013 5:53 AM IST
Senator John Kerry, President Barack Obama’s choice to replace Hillary Clinton as the next secretary of state, has been overwhelmingly confirmed by the US Senate.
Considered a friend of India who has advocated a ‘central role’ for the country in international affairs, Kerry received 94 votes in favour with just three Republican Senators voting no Tuesday. Kerry voted present on his own nomination.
He is expected to be sworn in after Clinton steps down as America’s top diplomat on Friday.
Earlier in the day the longtime senator from Massachusetts and 2004 Democratic presidential nominee received the nod of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee that he has chaired since 2009. The panel approved his nomination unanimously by a voice vote.
‘John has earned the respect of leaders around the world and the confidence of Democrats and Republicans in the Senate, and I am confident he will make an extraordinary secretary of state,’ Obama said in a statement.
If for Clinton Washington’s relationship with New Delhi was an ‘affair of the heart’, Kerry, 69, looks at India-US ties as ‘without doubt one of the most significant partnerships in US foreign policy.’
‘There are fewer relationships that will be as vital in the 21st century as our growing ties with India and its people,’ he said at the confirmation hearings for Obama’s nominee to be the US Ambassador to India Nancy Powell in February.
Considered a friend of India who has advocated a ‘central role’ for the country in international affairs, Kerry received 94 votes in favour with just three Republican Senators voting no Tuesday. Kerry voted present on his own nomination.
He is expected to be sworn in after Clinton steps down as America’s top diplomat on Friday.
Earlier in the day the longtime senator from Massachusetts and 2004 Democratic presidential nominee received the nod of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee that he has chaired since 2009. The panel approved his nomination unanimously by a voice vote.
‘John has earned the respect of leaders around the world and the confidence of Democrats and Republicans in the Senate, and I am confident he will make an extraordinary secretary of state,’ Obama said in a statement.
If for Clinton Washington’s relationship with New Delhi was an ‘affair of the heart’, Kerry, 69, looks at India-US ties as ‘without doubt one of the most significant partnerships in US foreign policy.’
‘There are fewer relationships that will be as vital in the 21st century as our growing ties with India and its people,’ he said at the confirmation hearings for Obama’s nominee to be the US Ambassador to India Nancy Powell in February.
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