Hillary Clinton passed on Appropriations chair to become Obama's Secretary of State [View All]

[ProSense]

Hillary Clinton passed on Appropriations chair to become Obama's Secretary of State

BY KENNETH R. BAZINET
DAILY NEWS WASHINGTON BUREAU

Updated Saturday, November 29th 2008, 6:11 PM

WASHINGTON - Hillary Clinton passed on becoming boss of the mega-powerful Senate Appropriations Committee to pursue the more prestigious secretary of state job with President-elect Barack Obama, the Daily News has learned.

As chairwoman of the panel that controls the nation's purse strings, Clinton could have pumped billions in federal dollars into the Empire State.

Instead, as Obama continues to piece together his cabinet, Clinton is poised to become the third female secretary of state, following Madeleine Albright and Condoleezza Rice.

The Senate slot was offered as a consolation prize after her bruising White House race and snub from Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-Mass.), who refused to let the former First Lady join his health care task force.

"Kennedy wasn't happy about how some things were handled in the campaign, but it was really a seniority issue. Hillary didn't have the seniority" to shepherd health care through the Senate, said a source familiar with the matter.

"Kennedy knew it and (Senate Democratic leader) Harry Reid knew it," the source added.

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So Hillary didn't have the seniority to lead on health care, but they offered her the "mega-powerful Senate Appropriations Committee" as a consolation prize?

Check out the poll at the story.

:rofl:

November 29, 2008

Clinton's approps offer

The Daily News reports that Hillary turned down the chair of the powerful Appropriations Committee to take the Secretary of State post.

That chair is open after West Virginia's aging Robert Byrd stepped aside.

But a congressional aide familiar with the details tells me the story is slightly less dramatic: She had been offered a seat on the committee, not the chair.

Even in that version, it undermines the notion that Clinton had to leave a Senate in which she would have been marginalized. She's now been there eight years, which means something in that body.

Hawaii's Daniel Inouye is in line to chair the committee.