Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, January 21, 1993 TAG: 9301210308
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Medium
SENATE OKS FIRST 3 FOR CABINET
The Senate confirmed Warren Christopher, Les Aspin and Lloyd Bentsen to Cabinet posts Wednesday, speedily installing the officials President Clinton needs to handle the diplomatic and economic troubles he inherited.In a rapid-fire series of voice votes, Christopher was approved as secretary of state, Aspin as secretary of defense and Bentsen as secretary of the Treasury. It took less than 45 minutes to confirm the first three members of Clinton's Cabinet.
"The Senate stands ready to work with President Clinton and Vice President [Al] Gore, and to work for all Americans," said Majority Leader George Mitchell, D-Maine.
The Christopher and Aspin nominations were approved on the first day in recognition of pressing international business and to ensure an "effective chain of command."
Bentsen, a Texas Democrat who chaired the Senate Finance Committee, was taken up first of the three in recognition of the high esteem his colleagues held for him, Mitchell said.
"He understands our tough problems can only be solved by bipartisan cooperation," Senate Republican Leader Bob Dole of Kansas said of Bentsen, who was the Democrats' 1988 vice presidential nominee.
Christopher, who headed Clinton's transition team, and Aspin, a Democrat from Wisconsin who was House Armed Services Committee chairman, also drew bipartisan praise.
The Senate might have taken up more, but lawmakers were eager to attend inaugural balls, so other confirmations were scheduled for today.
As many as 11 nominations could be taken up by the Senate today, according to statements on the Senate floor Wednesday.
They include: University of Wisconsin Chancellor Donna Shalala to head the Health and Human Services Department; former South Carolina Gov. Richard Riley as education secretary; Harvard scholar Robert Reich as labor secretary; Rep. Mike Espy, D-Miss., as agriculture secretary; Jesse Brown for veterans affairs, Rep. Leon Panetta, D-Calif., to head the Office of Management and Budget, Henry Cisneros as secretary of housing and urban development, and Hazel O'Leary as energy secretary.
Also scheduled for hearings today were: Carol Browner to head the Environmental Protection Agency, investment banker Roger Altman as deputy treasury secretary, and Alice Rivlin as deputy director of OMB.
In an exchange typifying the bipartisan yearning for an end to the sour relations that prevailed in the last years of the Bush administration, leaders of both parties presented Clinton with a plaque containing a replica of the key to the large bronze doors to the Capitol Rotunda.
Although there is a tradition that a president only visits the Capitol when congressional leaders invite him, the key amounts to "an advance invitation to come any time you wish," said House Speaker Thomas Foley, D-Wash.