Some of those senators didn’t even get a chance, because Secretary-designate Clinton answered their questions before they could be asked. Her opening statement featured a long section on the two billion people worldwide living on less than $2 a day. She emphasized that the plight of the poor is “not marginal to our foreign policy but integral to accomplishing our goals.”

Opening remarks by Senator John Kerry (Massachusetts) also included a strong statement about the ongoing global hunger crisis. “The United States is uniquely situated to help the world feed itself and has the opportunities to recast its image by making the eradication of hunger a centerpiece of United States foreign policy,” he said.

In the subsequent question-and-answer period, ten out of fifteen of the Foreign Relations Committee Senators raised issues related to ONE issues, including these:

- Senator Bob Corker (Tennessee) asked about reforming and modernizing U.S. foreign aid, referring to the “maze of aid efforts that are underway” and the need for the State Department to examine and streamline these efforts.

- Senator Barbara Boxer (California) stated that “HIV, AIDS, tuberculosis — Africa, Asia, Latin America need our attention,” and went on to describe the persecution of women in the developing world.

Clinton responded with this assurance: “I want to pledge to you that as Secretary of State I view these issues as central to our foreign policy, not as adjunct or auxiliary or in any way lesser than all of the other issues that we have to confront.”

- Senator George Voinovich (Ohio) inquired about how “smart power” — which includes foreign assistance — might be used by the new State Department.

- Senator Bill Nelson (Florida) made a statement about the Global Initiative as an accomplishment adding to Hillary Clinton’s resume: “The fact that the Global Initiative has done such good things all over the world, the anti-viral drugs and the dispensing, the working on poverty and hunger, the fact of promoting development in the third world…is a significant accomplishment and that can only lend additional credibility to your coming to the table as the foreign policy representative of the United States government.”

- Senator Benjamin Cardin (Maryland) made a strong point about human rights, particularly in terms of addressing the needs of refugees of “conflict, famine, disease, [and] the economy”.

- Senator Robert Menendez (New Jersey) inquired about ways to elevate foreign assistance and streamline the structure of our foreign aid, and later asked about HIV/AIDS policies as well.

- Senator Johnny Isakson (Georgia) made a strong case for reviving and elevating development assistance to the level of defense and diplomacy as a pillar of U.S. foreign policy, specifically in the areas of capacity and resources and attention to Africa.

- Senator Robert Casey (Pennsylvania) emphasized the importance of increasing resources allocated to development. “To truly harness the full strength of America,” he stated in a quotation from a speech made by Defense Secretary Robert Gates in July, “requires having civilian institutions of diplomacy and development that are adequately staffed and properly funded.”

- Senator John Barrasso (Wyoming) also asked about aid effectiveness, or rather “how to balance allocating foreign aid and making sure that American taxpayers are getting value for their money”.

In addition to these issues raised during the hearing, several of the Senators indicated that Secretary-designate Clinton pre-empted their questions in her opening statement when she covered the importance of U.S. humanitarian and development programs to U.S. foreign policy, her determination to seek adequate resources to realize ambitious development objectives and her intention to review, consolidate and streamline U.S. foreign assistance programs.

Other senators informed us that they submitted more than 20 additional questions, on topics including malaria, global education and agriculture, “for the record” to be answered by the Secretary-designate later.

You can read more about Hillary Clinton’s full answers here.

-Emily K. Stivers