In a setback to the White House’s progress towards installation of a new national security team, Republicans in the US Senate have blocked a vote on Chuck Hagel’s nomination as secretary of defence.
The development triggered an unprecedented filibuster and opposition to President Barack Obama’s choice for the key post as he looks to wind down the Afghan war and deal with some other key defense issues in his second term.
The vote, one short of the 60 needed to move forward on the nomination, marked the first time a defense secretary nominee had been filibustered. Hagel, a former Republican senator, faced lawmakers’ criticism at his confirmation hearing for his independent positions on several national security and foreign policy issues.
The standoff comes during what many believe is a critical period for the Pentagon as it draws down troops from Afghanistan and implements costly budget cuts.
Reacting to the Senate vote during an online “fireside hangout”, Obama expected Hagel would be confirmed.
“What seems to be happening, and this has been growing over time, is the Republican minority in the Senate seems to think that the rule now is that you need to have 60 votes for everything,” Obama said. “Well, that’s not the rule,” according to a report in The Washington Post.
He added that “it’s just unfortunate that this kind of politics intrudes at a time when I’m still presiding over a war in Afghanistan and I need a secretary of defense who is coordinating with our allies” on US strategy in the region.
Earlier, the Republicans had said they would relent to a simple majority vote, guaranteeing confirmation, later this month – but only if they see more information about Hagel’s post-Senate foreign policy speeches and his work in private investment groups.
Senior Republicans initially scoffed at those demands, first raised by freshman Senator Ted Cruz, a Republican from Texas, as unnecessary, but now party leaders hold them up as the main cause for delay.
On Thursday, the final vote tally was 58 votes to end the filibuster to 40 against, but actually 59 backed Hagel because majority leader Harry Reid changed his vote to no in a procedural move so that he could use parliamentary rules to quickly reconsider the nomination when the Senate returns from its President’s Day break, February 25.