Tuesday, January 13, 2009

Quickie: A Preview of HRC at the Foreign Relations Committee

The new Foreign Policy blog The Cable has a 79-page sneak preview of HRC's answers to incoming SFRC chairman John Kerry's prepared questions. There are 136 prepared questions touching on just about all the hot topics in foreign affairs. Although the answers she provided were brief, a few would be of immediate interest to FS folks. Question 62 is on USAID, Q68 on budget issues, Q69 on the existing staffing shortfalls and Q77 on overseas pay gap where HRC’s written response says that rectifying it will “indeed be a high priority for me.”



Senator Kerry has the US Embassy Baghdad staffing down as Q26.



And below is Senator Kerry's question and HRC's written response on staffing shortfalls and high priority areas:



You can read the whole thing here (pdf, 4.5 MB). The Cable notes that Clinton also tells Kerry, "No final decisions have been made on special envoys for South Asia."



Senator Clinton will be at the Senate Foreign Relations Committee (SFRC) this morning for her nomination hearing. Her prepared testimony is not yet available has not yet been posted online as of this writing.

Time: 9:30 A.M.

Place: 216 Hart Senate Office Building

Presiding: Senator Kerry