Daley Gets OK as Secretary of Commerce

The Senate by a 95-2 vote Thursday confirmed Chicago attorney Bill Daley, brother of Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley, as head of the Commerce Department.

Daley was sworn in by Vice President Al Gore in a small ceremony attended only by his family, White House Press Secretary Mike McCurry said.

Daley has vowed to eliminate 100 of the department’s 256 political jobs before the end of the year and conduct a “top-to-bottom” review of trade missions, especially procedures used to select the business executives who go on such trips.

Meanwhile, Transportation Secretary Federico Pena eased through a Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee hearing on his nomination to become Energy secretary, despite sharp criticism of the administration’s approach to nuclear waste storage.

The Commerce and Energy departments have been under attack from congressional Republicans who either want to reduce the agencies’ influence or, in the case of the Energy Department, eliminate the agency.

The Senate panel is expected to vote on Pena’s nomination soon, and approval by the full Senate is expected.

Also on Thursday, the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence postponed hearings on the nomination of Anthony Lake as CIA director.

Chairman Richard C. Shelby (R-Ala.) said it would be “premature and shortsighted” to hold the confirmation hearings as scheduled on Feb. 11 while the Justice Department was investigating Lake’s handling of his investments. Shelby said Lake’s confirmation hearings had been tentatively rescheduled for the week beginning Feb. 25.