Foreign Relations Committee up in the air, literally

As my colleague Carolyn O’Hara reported over at Madam Secretary this morning, Secretary of State-designate Hillary Clinton‘s confirmation hearing before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee is likely to be held early next week. [UPDATE: Committee sources now say the hearing is scheduled for Tuesday, January 13th, 9:30am]. The hearing forced incoming SFRC chairman John Kerry (D-MA) to cancel plans to join a Congressional delegation departing today led by outgoing chairman and VP-elect Joseph Biden to Southwest Asia, that includes Sen. Jack Reed (D-RI), Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), and Susan Collins (R-ME). [UPDATE: Biden’s press office sends word that Collins and Reed, along with Kerry, "were originally scheduled to be in the delegation, but due to recently scheduled Senate votes over the weekend, they are now unable to go on the trip."] The exact destination of the Biden-led CODEL hasn’t been publicized for security reasons, but is expected to include Afghanistan and Pakistan, and possibly Iraq. 

The trip has also pushed back a dinner that Kerry and his wife Teresa Heinz Kerry had planned to host at their Georgetown home tonight for all committee members and their spouses. The delay may be just as well, because who, exactly, is going to be in the committee is still up in the air.

The uncertainty over its composition is due to two things: first, the loss of several key members — that of Biden and former Sen. Barack Obama, who are of course moving to the White House, as well as the retirement of Senator Chuck Hagel (R-NE), and the long-contested, now-litigated Minnesota Senate race which looks set to depose former SFRC member Sen. Norm Coleman (R-MN). (Republicans are suing to delay the seating of Coleman’s seeming victor, Al Franken.)

Meantime, Senate Democrats still can’t decide whether they are going to seat Roland Burris, Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich‘s choice to fill Obama’s vacated Senate seat. At issue in the delayed final Senate tally is whether the Democrats get an additional two or three seats on the committees, including the SFRC.

"In a normal year, Kerry, [Senate Majority Leader Harry] Reid, and [Senate Minority leader Mitch] McConnell would have already sat down and agreed on ratios and gotten all the assignments doled out," one committee staff member told me. "The problem this year is that with two seats still undetermined, Minnesota and Illinois, it makes a huge difference." Currently, the Democrats have 57 certain seats in the Senate and the Republicans 41. If the Democrats take Minnesota and keep Illinois, as looks likely, that would bring their numbers to 59.

Currently, the outgoing committee has 11 Democrats and 10 Republicans. Assuming the Dems wind up with 59 seats in the Senate, Reid is pushing for a three-seat margin. McConnell is arguing that the Dems are being too greedy. Negotiations have been at a standstill at last report.

"We are continuing to work on an organizing resolution that represents the larger majority that Democrats now hold in the Senate," Reid spokeswoman Regan LaChapelle responded to an inquiry last week.

While its composition and ratio are still up in the air, some staff changes are firming up on the fourth floor of the Senate Dirksen building. Kerry’s personal Senate office chief of staff David McKean will become the committee’s new staff director. The Minority staff director remains Ken Myers Jr., under ranking Republican Richard Lugar (R-IN). 

In addition, according to Politico, Kerry foreign policy aide Frank Lowenstein is going to become chief counsel of the SFRC. Meantime, the Los Angeles Times is reporting that former LAT managing editor Douglas Frantz is to become the SFRC’s chief investigator. The Times also reports that former Foreign Service officer and former Bush White House official Frederick Jones is to become the committee’s communications director.

As for the SFRC member-spouse dinner at the Kerry’s, which has now been pushed back until January 21st, committee staff members say it’s a welcome gesture. "A nice touch to kick off the new Congress and establish a more intimate touch to the Committee," the committee staffer said. "Since Biden maintained his residence in Delaware, he never did anything like this."