Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., calls on a reporter during a December press conference. McCain, a hawk on foreign policy matters, has been named to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, giving him a prime seat from which to criticize administration officials. (Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images)
Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., who often advocates for U.S. military intervention in the world’s hot spots, is joining the Foreign Relations Committee.
“Very pleased to be named to Foreign Relations, Armed Services, Indian Affairs & Homeland Security Committees – lots of work to do,” McCain tweeted late Thursday afternoon.
McCain is one of President Obama’s fiercest Capitol Hill critics on foreign affairs matters ranging from Obama’s decision to end the Iraq war to the commander in chief’s plan to essentially end the Afghanistan war in 2014 to the 2011 Libya intervention to Obama’s decision against intervening in Syria’s civil war.
Most recently, McCain led the charge in hammering Obama administration officials for its actions before, during and after a Sept. 11 attack in Benghazi, Libya that left the U.S. ambassador and three others dead. The flap over Benghazi led McCain and several GOP allies to block Obama’s U.N. ambassador, Susan Rice, from being nominated for secretary of state due to comments she made about the Benghazi attack.
Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn., is slated to become the Foreign Relations Committee’s top Republican. But the appointment gives McCain a prime seat from which to hammer Obama administration officials over just about all their foreign policy decisions.
One can bet that if outgoing Secretary of State Hillary Clinton recovers from a fall, a concussion and a blood clot soon enough to testify before the Foreign Relations panel, for Washington wonks and political observers McCain’s questions — and Clinton’s answers — will be appointment viewing.