US Senate panel approves Hagel’s Pentagon nomination

Chuck Hagel, nominee for US secretary for defence, passed a Senate panel on Tuesday.
The nomination marks a significant a significant step forward in the former Republican senator’s embattled confirmation process. The final vote in the Senate Armed Services Committee was 14-11, along party lines, proving that despite loud protests from Republicans, Democrats simply had more votes.
The vote was left open for 10 minutes to allow a Republican senator, David Vitter of Louisiana, who was not present and left no instructions, to return and make his views known. He did not return, but his vote would not have changed the outcome. Democrats control 14 votes on the committee, including independent Senator Angus King. Democrats also control a majority in the full Senate.
The committee’s ranking member, Senator James Inhofe, a Republican, unsuccessfully asked that the vote be delayed until his party’s questions were answered.
Senator Lindsey Graham, a Republican, was one of Hagel’s strongest opponents. “The next secretary of defence will have to deal with a world on fire,” Graham said, “and I believe Senator Hagel’s testimony was not reassuring.” Republicans contended Hagel’s past statements showed him as soft on Iran and antagonistic toward Israel.
Democrats and Republicans engaged in verbal duel before the vote in uncharacteristically harsh language.
Senator Ted Cruz, a Republican, repeatedly tried to suggest Hagel, a former Republican senator from Nebraska, may have received payments from foreign sources, but said he had no evidence because Hagel refused to answer questions about his income.
Committee Chairman Carl Levin, a Democrat, pointed out that when asked in writing by the Senate Armed Services committee whether he and his wife had received money from a foreign government or an entity controlled by a foreign government in the last 10 years, he had denied such an exchange.
“We believe firmly that Senator Hagel will be confirmed as the next secretary of defense,” White House spokesman Jay Carney said. Hagel, 66, faced sharp and sometimes angry questioning from fellow Republicans, especially former ally McCain, at his confirmation hearing on January 31. McCain and Hagel are both decorated Vietnam veterans and Hagel was co-chairman of McCain’s 2000 presidential campaign.