Bartholomew D. Sullivan

USA TODAY

WASHINGTON — Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad cleared the Senate Foreign Relations Committee Tuesday morning by a voice vote to be the next ambassador to the Peoples Republic of China.

The next step in his confirmation is a full Senate floor vote that has not been scheduled.

Branstad, the nation’s longest-serving governor, testified last week before the committee that he would raise human rights and intellectual property issues with his Chinese counterparts and described a long association with the Chinese President Xi Jinping.

In Des Moines Tuesday, Branstad said he didn't watch the committee hearing — he was reviewing budget bills when a staffer broke in with news of the vote.

"They brought the word in and said it was a voice vote in the Senate Foreign Relations Committee," he said. "I was pleased to hear that. That’s encouraging."

Branstad said he believes the full Senate could vote on his confirmation as early as next week, setting into motion a frenzied transfer of power in Iowa and transition for his family to Beijing.

Once confirmed, Branstad said he would resign as governor within a few days. After that, he and First Lady Chris Branstad will undergo a lengthy orientation process and head to China sometime in June.

Next week, he'll meet in Des Moines with an official he described as the "No. 2" in the embassy.

He said he's hoping to review and either sign or veto all the remaining bills sent to him by the Legislature before he leaves.

"I’m very hopeful we can get that done," he said.

Branstad, 70, met Xi for the first time when, as a junior provincial leader, Xi led a Chinese agriculture contingent to Iowa in the mid-1980s.

Asked several times if his close ties to Xi might make it difficult to raise issues that might cause Chinese leaders to “lose face” — or be embarrassed about an issue that, culturally, would be expected to be raised privately — Branstad said he would not be “bashful about bringing these issues up.”

Once Branstad is confirmed by the full Senate and is sworn in, Iowa’s lieutenant governor, Kim Reynolds, is expected to be sworn in as the Hawkeye State’s 43rd governor.

Register reporter Jason Noble contributed to this story.

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