Politics on the Hudson

The husband of Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton is making a prediction on what she will do after she steps down from her cabinet post, as planned, at the end of 2012.

Former President Bill Clinton told Newsmax.com on Sunday that his wife ”will have a major role to play in the nongovernmental world. That’s what she plans to do and I think she’ll do it well.”

The former president said,  ”Around the world, she’s done an enormous amount of good, in you know, the so-called soft power areas empowering women and girls, educating them, giving them access to capital, helping them make a living, promoting better healthcare practices.”

Here’s the link:

http://www.newsmax.com/InsideCover/clinton-bill-hillary-president/2011/11/27/id/419171

President Barack Obama won’t nominate Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton to serve on the Supreme Court, White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said today.
Gibbs was responding to comments by Republican Sen. Orrin Hatch of Utah that Clinton has been mentioned as a possible successor to retiring Justice John Paul Stevens.

“I think the president has identified in Secretary Clinton … a capacity in which she’s doing a wonderful job, and the president is going to keep her as his secretary of state,’’ Gibbs said.

Hatch, a senior Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee, brought up Clinton’s name today when asked on NBC’s Today Show if any of four other possible nominees appeared to be a likely frontrunner.

Hatch told host Matt Lauer that Clinton “would be an interesting person in the mix.’’ He didn’t say who’s mentioned her as a possible nominee.

As a member of the Senate representing New York between 2001 and January 2009, Clinton made many friendships among her Republican colleagues and received widespread support for her nomination as secretary of state. She was confirmed 94-2 on Jan. 21, 2009.

Hatch didn’t predict how a Clinton nomination to the high court might fare. Nor did he comment directly on any of the four other possible candidates mentioned by the Today Show host — Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, Solicitor General Elena Kagan, and federal appellate judges Diane Wood and Merrick Garland.

“I’m not going to prejudge anybody now,’’ Hatch said. “Supreme Court confirmation proceedings have to be thorough. And it’s going to take some time to look at each one of these people, if they’re nominated. ”

Stevens announced last week he will retire at the end of the Supreme Court’s current term, giving President Barack Obama an opportunity to fill a second seat on the nine-member court.

The Senate confirmed Bronx native Sonia Sotomayor last year to fill the seat vacated by former Justice Sandra Day O’Connor.

Like Sotomayor, Napolitano and Kagan were born in New York City. Clinton and Wood were born in the Chicago area, although Clinton now makes Westchester County her home.

Rep. Kirsten Gillibrand will have limited options in terms of potential committee assignments when she is sworn in as a member of the Senate.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid recently released a list of committee assignments for the new Congress that shows some of the most important panels no longer have vacancies.

Sen. Roland Burris, the new senator from Illinois, took the last seat available to a Democrat on the Armed Services Committee.

Gillibrand indicated Friday she wanted an Armed Services seat because she currently serves on the House Armed Services Committee.

However, there still are two vacancies on the Agriculture Committee, which Gillibrand indicated she would like to serve on. The upstate Democrat currently serves on the House Agriculture Committee.

What else is left? The youngest member of the Senate might consider joining the Senate Special Committee on Aging, which still has slots available for three more Democrats.

And the Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs has a slot open. That could be a good choice for Gillibrand, who needs to bolster her standing with urban New Yorkers going into the 2010 election. Her background as a securities lawyer also would be a good fit. But the downside is that New York Sen. Chuck Schumer already serves on that committee and uses that platform to speak on behalf of the state’s Wall Street interests.

A better option might be the Committee on the Environment and Public Works. Former Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton served on the panel and used her seat to advocate on behalf of the health problems experienced by emergency workers involved in the World Trade Center cleanup.

Four others with vacancies are: Foreign Relations; Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs; Health Education Labor and Pensions; and Indian Affairs.

Rep. Kirsten Gillibrand faced questions this afternoon on how a woman from upstate New York who favors Second Amendment gun rights for hunters and sportsmen can represent the downstate area of New York City and its suburbs.

In her first press conference held in Manhattan since Gov. David Paterson selected her to fill New York’s vacant Senate seat, Gillibrand said she also supports gun safety and keeping guns out of the hands of criminals.

“My goal is to travel across all across the state,’’ she said. “Meet with all the different constituency groups and really talk to them and listen to their priorities and concerns.’‘

Gillibrand told reporters that during the last Congress she voted in favor of legislation authored by gun opponent Rep. Carolyn McCarthy of Long Island.

“My advocacy will become broader,’’ she pledged.

Gillibrand faced the media joined Gov. David Paterson following a restaurant luncheon meeting they had with Sen. Chuck Schumer and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton.

Paterson rejected one reporter’s suggestion that former first daughter Caroline Kennedy withdrew her name from consideration for the Senate seat because she received word the the governor thought she was not up to the demands of the job.

“She got no signal from me that she had to withdraw,’’ Paterson responded. “She is a great New Yorker. She is a great friend of mine.’‘

Rep. Kirsten Gillibrand will be sworn in Tuesday by Vice President Joe Biden as the newest member of the Senate, according to her spokeswoman Rachel McEneny.

When Gov. David Paterson announced his selection of the two-term attorney from Columbia County on Friday, he said the appointment would be effective Sunday.

But the Senate has its own rules about officially recognizing new members, allowing them to vote and assigning them to committees. Gillibrand won’t be able to carry out those duties until after she’s sworn in.

In the meantime, Gillibrand will meet this afternoon at Oscar’s Restaurant in Manhattan with the governor, Sen. Chuck Schumer and the woman who she will succeed in the Senate, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton.

Tomorrow Gillibrand is sponsoring an economic development forum in Hyde Park with the governor as the keynote speaker. The event was scheduled prior to her appointment.

The Politico is reporting this morning that Gov. David Paterson has narrowed the field of candidates to fill the Senate seat vacated by Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton to three people.

They are Rep. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-Hudson; Rep. Carolyn Maloney, D-Manhattan, and Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown.

According to Hillary Rodham Clinton’s Senate office, she has resigned as a New York senator after taking the oath of office as the nation’s 67th secretary of state.

For the record, the oath was administered at 5:29 p.m. by Kathleen Oberly, Associate Judge, District of Columbia Court of Appeals, in a private ceremony at her office in the Russell Senate Office Building.

“This letter is to inform you that I resign my seat in the United States Senate effective immediately in order to assume my duties as Secretary of State of the United States,” Clinton wrote in three identical letters sent to the
President of the Senate Joseph R. Biden, the Secretary of the Senate, and New York Governor David Paterson.

Two of the letters were handed delivered. Paterson received his letter via fax.

The only senators voting against Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton’s nomination to serve as secretary of state were David Vitter of Louisiana and Jim DeMint of South Carolina, both Republicans.

The vote came a day after an effort to confirm Clinton by unanimous consent failed.

But Democratic Sen. Jay Rockefeller said in a hallway interview that having a roll call vote was worth the wait because it provides hard evidence of Clinton’s widespread bipartisan support.

During the debate leading up the vote, several Republicans senators spoke in favor of Clinton’s nomination.

The most notable: former Republican presidential candidate John McCain of Arizona.

Pennsylvania Sen. Arlen Specter told a story about how Clinton invited him for a visit to the second floor West Wing of the White House while she was first lady in order to discuss with him his brain surgery.

“In the Senate she has had an extraordinary record,’’ said the Pennsylvania Republican, noting he worked with her as cosponsors on legislation to establish a public service academy like West Point or Annapolis.

The Senate is expected to begin floor debate around noon today on Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton’s nomination to serve as secretary of state.

There will be an afternoon breakfor the weekly lunches the Senate Democrats and Republicans separately hold.

The vote on her nomination is scheduled for around 4:30 p.m.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., announced the Senate has confirmed several members of President Barack Obama’s Cabinet by unanimous consent.

Those confirmed are: Stevn Chu as energy secretary, Arne Duncan as education secretary, Arizona Gov.  Janet Napolitano as secretary of homeland security, Peter Orzag as director of the Office of Management and Budget, Colorado Sen. Ken Salazar as secretary of the interior, Eric Shinseki as secretary of veterans affairs and former Iowa Gov. Thomas Vilsackas secretary of agriculture.

As reported earlier , Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton’s nomination as secretary of state received an objection from Republican Sen. John Cornyn of Texas. A roll call vote on her nomination is expected tomorrow.