For NASA Administrator, This Mission Is a Tad Personal

A department spokesman, Shane Wolfe, did not return messages seeking comment.

Incoming Cabinet officials often waste absurd amounts of money redecorating perfectly posh offices to their tastes. Watchdogs generally decry the waste of money. But if the projects are part of the stimulus package . . .

Hands Full With Hearings

March Madness is nothing compared with Confirmation Chaos. That's what's about to happen in the Senate as committees there, with Jan. 16 as a deadline, try to hold hearings on most, if not all, of the president-elect's Cabinet picks. Not all dates are fixed, but here are some.

The Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee has lined up former Senate majority leader Tom Daschle, named to head the Department of Health and Human Services, for a chat Thursday. Rep. Hilda L. Solis (D-Calif.), the nominee for labor secretary, has a date there Friday. And Education Secretary-designate Arne Duncan is on tap for Jan. 13, the same day that Steven Chu, the energy secretary nominee, is before the Energy and Natural Resources Committee.

The frenzied schedule for the week beginning Jan. 12 continues as the Senate Foreign Relations Committee hears from Secretary of State-designate Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.); Treasury nominee Timothy Geithner may be cuffed about a bit over the stimulus package by the Senate Finance Committee; Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano talks about the Department of Homeland Security with the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs.

The Environment and Public Works Committee hears from Environmental Protection Agency nominee Lisa P. Jackson on Jan. 14, and the Veterans Affairs Committee hears from Gen. Eric K. Shinseki, the Veteran Affairs nominee, the same day.

Salazar, up for interior secretary, is expected to have a smooth ride Jan. 15 from his colleagues on the Energy and Natural Resources Committee, but there could be fireworks that day when Attorney General-designate Eric H. Holder Jr. goes before the Judiciary Committee.

Republicans are said to be preparing a hard look at him on issues such as his role in the controversial pardon of fugitive financier Marc Rich and his role in the Elian Gonzalez affair.

Unease Over Possible AIDS Pick

Quiet but determined resistance is mounting to the prospect of Nils Daulaire taking over as international HIV/AIDS coordinator in the incoming administration, our colleague Ceci Connolly reports. Daulaire, a physician who will soon finish his stint as president and chief executive of the Global Health Council, is said to be a bit too cozy with the pharmaceutical industry for many in the AIDS and international relief circles.

Most opponents are unwilling to speak publicly -- out of fear of upsetting the Obama team. But James Love, director of the nonprofit research organization Knowledge Ecology International, said there is concern that Daulaire would not be a strong enough advocate for patients, particularly the poorest of the poor.

Activists also complain that over the years Daulaire has been a weak voice in debates over controversies such as clean needle exchanges and abstinence-only policies.

Steven Sinding, former head of the International Planned Parenthood Federation, said he can understand concerns that Daulaire would focus more on prevention and less on treatment. But Sinding said he thinks Daulaire would strike the right balance. "I know he would do everything in his power to ensure there is no backsliding on treatment," Sinding said.