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Mak reports: "The Senate Armed Services Committee plans to vote Tuesday on Chuck Hagel's nomination to be the next secretary of Defense, but Republican aides suggest that some GOP members could walk out in protest."

Senator Chuck Hagel at a hearing on Iran. (photo: Joshua Roberts/Getty Images)
Senator Chuck Hagel at a hearing on Iran. (photo: Joshua Roberts/Getty Images)


GOP Threatens Walkout on Chuck Hagel Vote

By Tim Mak, Politico

11 February 13

 

he Senate Armed Services Committee plans to vote Tuesday on Chuck Hagel's nomination to be the next secretary of Defense, but Republican aides suggest that some GOP members could walk out in protest.

Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Carl Levin (D-Mich.) has scheduled the vote after committee members have discussed the nomination during a committee meeting set for 2:30 p.m., after a previously scheduled morning session on sequestration.

Levin is "fed up" with Republicans after a boisterous hearing last week with outgoing Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, Democratic sources told POLITICO, and wants to move Hagel's nomination out of committee, with only Democratic votes if necessary, and on to the Senate floor for a final confirmation vote.

Two Senate Republican aides have said, though, that some GOP senators were considering the possibility of walking out during a committee vote.

Levin faces a conundrum: He has the ability to force a Hagel vote through the committee on a party-line vote, since Democrats outnumber Republicans. But doing so could damage the committee's longtime bipartisan spirit.

Last Thursday's hearing with Panetta alarmed Levin, Democrats said. Levin worries the aggressive, pointed questioning that Republicans directed at Panetta over the Sept. 11 attacks on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, Libya, could signal some Republicans simply will not compromise on the issue of Hagel's nomination.

"Fed up is the right term for [Levin's mood]," said a Democratic source. "After the Benghazi hearing, it showed what we are dealing with on the Republican side."

One Armed Services Committee member, South Carolina Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham, has made clear that he considers Benghazi and Hagel to be one issue - "no confirmation without information," he said Sunday, threatening to block both Hagel and CIA nominee John Brennan. Graham is demanding more details from the administration about its response to the Benghazi attacks, particularly the direct involvement of President Barack Obama.

It was only his latest threat over Hagel. Last Thursday's Benghazi hearing that irked Levin had been convened partly to mollify Graham, who initially said he would hold up Hagel's nomination process if Panetta didn't testify. Sunday's comments showed Graham was not mollified.

Democratic aides were unhappy with the week's turn of events. The Armed Services Committee has traditionally been collegial; it has passed a defense authorization bill for over 50 consecutive years, as defense advocates like to point out. But Republicans' grilling of Panetta on Thursday seemed to indicate that the bipartisan feeling has diminished, and Republicans signaled again Sunday they were playing for keeps.

"There are two options: If Hagel doesn't fully disclose all the things in the letter [in which Republicans made requests for more disclosure] ... either you will see a party line vote or Republicans will stand up and leave the room in protest," said a senior Republican Senate aide. "Does Levin really want that to happen on his watch as chairman? ... It would really debilitate the committee."

Democratic aides were unhappy with the week's turn of events. The Armed Services Committee has traditionally been collegial: It has passed a defense authorization bill for more than 50 consecutive years, as defense advocates like to point out. But Republicans' grilling of Panetta on Thursday seemed to indicate that the bipartisan feeling has diminished, and Republicans signaled again Sunday they are playing for keeps.

"There are two options: If Hagel doesn't fully disclose all the things in the letter [in which Republicans made requests for more disclosure] ... either you will see a party-line vote or Republicans will stand up and leave the room in protest," said a senior Republican Senate aide. "Does Levin really want that to happen on his watch as chairman? ... It would really debilitate the committee."

The response of Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) to the prospect of a walkout, the timing of a committee vote and a potential filibuster will be critical. As a former ranking member, McCain is still a leading voice on committee issues.

McCain and his staff have been working to determine whether Hagel has met the standard of disclosure required of all previous defense secretary nominees. The committee's minority staff working for Inhofe has confirmed to members that Hagel has met these requirements, a Republican Senate aide told POLITICO.

And while McCain reiterated his opposition to a filibuster Sunday on Fox News, he said he was learning toward voting against Hagel's confirmation.

"I think we need all of the information from Sen. Hagel, but the fact is we have never filibustered a Cabinet appointee and that is why I do not believe we should filibuster his nomination," he said.

Elsewhere, opponents showed little sign of softening their campaign against Hagel.

Senate Republicans are currently demanding that Hagel disclose the sources of all substantial compensation over the past five years - and that he make assurances that organizations he's been affiliated with have not received foreign funding over the past decade.

"Hagel has gone above and beyond what the committee has ever asked of any other nominee," a Hagel aide told POLITICO. "He deserves an up or down vote."

On Sunday afternoon, Inhofe demanded a 60-vote threshold for the Hagel nomination, saying he didn't trust the president to choose his own Cabinet.

"I would threaten to cause a 60-vote margin, yes I would. If it took a filibuster, I'd do it that way," Inhofe said Sunday on Fox. Inhofe added that he doesn't "trust this president to make the right appointments" and that he didn't "see anything wrong with requiring a 60-vote margin" for the important job of secretary of defense.

"I know he is popular, and I know that he is going to do his best. I am going to do my best to see that he is not going to be secretary of defense," he said.

The administration, meanwhile, is standing by its nominees.

"We believe the Senate should act swiftly to confirm John Brennan and Sen. Hagel," said National Security Council spokesman Tommy Vietor. "These are critical national security positions, and individual members shouldn't play politics with their nominations."


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