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Kerry Gets Committee's Backing For State; LaHood Leaving Transportation

NPR | By Mark Memmott
Published January 29, 2013 at 10:32 AM EST
Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., at his confirmation hearing last week.
Zhang Jun
/
Xinhua /Landov
Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., at his confirmation hearing last week.

No big surprises in these bits of news about President Obama's cabinet:

-- The Senate Foreign Relations Committee, as expected, this morning approved the nomination of Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., to be the next secretary of state. Kerry, the committee's chairman, is set to replace Secretary Hillary Clinton after he gets the approval of the full Senate, which also is expected.

-- Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, the White House confirms, is leaving his post. LaHood, a former congressman from Illinois, is a Republican who agreed to cross party lines to work with the Democratic president. According to The Washington Post:

"There are a fair number of names being heard as possible LaHood successors, including Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, former Pennsylvania governor Ed Rendell, and National Transportation Safety Board Chairman Deborah Hersman."

Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

Mark Memmott
Mark Memmott is NPR's supervising senior editor for Standards & Practices. In that role, he's a resource for NPR's journalists – helping them raise the right questions as they do their work and uphold the organization's standards.
See stories by Mark Memmott
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