WASHINGTON — Retired Army Gen. Eric Shinseki of Kaua'i has been confirmed by the U.S. Senate as secretary of veterans' affairs.

The Senate approved seven of President Obama's Cabinet-level appointees yesterday but delayed a vote on Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's confirmation as secretary of state because of objections from a Republican member.

The unanimous votes confirming Shinseki and the other Cabinet members came a little more than three hours after Obama took office.

"General Shinseki has risen from humble beginnings to become the secretary of the second-largest Cabinet-level department in the federal government," Sen. Daniel Akaka, D-Hawai'i, said in a news release issued in Washington.

Akaka, chairman of the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee, said he looks forward to working with Shinseki and Obama to help the Department of Veterans Affairs fulfill "its sacred obligation to veterans and their families."

Shinseki caught the attention of the nation before the 2003 invasion of Iraq when, as Army chief of staff, he testified before Congress that it might take several hundred thousand U.S. troops to control Iraq after securing the country. The defense secretary at the time, Donald Rumsfeld, downplayed that estimate, and Shinseki retired soon after.

One of Shinseki's main jobs at the VA will be to improve care for the thousands of veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan with debilitating injuries. Shinseki was injured twice in combat, losing part of a foot when he stepped on a land mine while serving in Vietnam.

The delay in confirming Clinton, the result of a demand from Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, for more financial information about former President Bill Clinton's charitable foundation, came just hours after Obama was sworn into office. But the delay is not likely to last long — the Senate is expected to hold a roll-call vote on Hillary Clinton's nomination today.

The other nominees approved yesterday were Energy Secretary Steven Chu, Education Secretary Arne Duncan, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, Office of Management and Budget director Peter Orszag, and Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack.

Some of Obama's other Cabinet choices, Clinton included, have been the subject of questions not yet resolved in the confirmation hearings that have taken place over the past 10 days.

Timothy Geithner, tapped by Obama to run the Treasury Department, including the IRS, was on the verge of coasting into office when the Senate Finance Committee discovered that the New York Federal Reserve president had only recently paid nearly $43,000 in back taxes and penalties. He now faces a grilling when his delayed confirmation proceedings begin today.

The nominee for attorney general, Eric H. Holder Jr., faced rigorous questioning last week from the Judiciary Committee over his role in the pardon of fugitive financier Marc Rich in the final days of the Clinton administration in which Holder served. Holder is expected to win Senate approval, but a final vote has not been set.

Defense Secretary Robert Gates will continue in his job and will not require Senate approval. But former Senate majority leader Tom Daschle must wait to become health and human services, as members of the Finance Committee are taking longer than expected to review his tax records, according to a senior committee official.