Hearing for Biden's pick for secretary of state will start soon

From CNN's Nicole Gaouette, Jennifer Hansler and Kylie Atwood

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Antony Blinken will soon appear before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee to be considered for secretary of state.

Blinken has worked with former Vice President Joe Biden for so long that one former State Department official said "it's difficult to know where one person's policy vision ends and the other's begins."

In Blinken, Biden is tapping someone with a commitment to international cooperation, refugee issues and humanitarian work that is rooted in his personal history – along with enough playfulness to pair up with Sesame Street's Grover to make a video about welcoming refugees.

A father of two toddlers who has his own band – called Ablinken – the longtime Biden aide was widely praised as an ideal choice both to repair damage to US alliances and help fashion policies for a slew of challenges that are bigger than any one country can solve. Foggy Bottom observers hailed Blinken's deep knowledge of all corners of Washington's foreign policy institutions and his rapport with the President-elect.

After bitter and divisive years in Washington and at the State Department under President Trump's administration, many current and former foreign service officers made a point of describing him with a word rarely heard in the capital: "Nice."