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| FILE - In this Jan. 31, 2013, file photo, Secretary of Defense nominee Chuck Hagel testifies before the Senate Armed Services Committee during his confirmation hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington. A deeply divided Senate is moving toward a vote on President Barack Obama’s contentious choice of Chuck Hagel to head the Defense Department, with the former Republican senator on track to win confirmation after a protracted political fight. |
WASHINGTON
(AP) -- A deeply divided Senate voted on Tuesday to confirm Republican
Chuck Hagel to be the nation's next defense secretary, handing President
Barack Obama's pick the top Pentagon job just days before billions of
dollars in automatic, across-the-board budget cuts hit the military.
The
vote was 58-41, with four Republicans joining the Democrats in backing
the contentious choice. Hagel's only GOP support came from former
colleagues Thad Cochran of Mississippi, Dick Shelby of Alabama and Mike
Johanns of Nebraska - all three had announced their support earlier -
and Rand Paul of Kentucky.
The vote came just
hours after Republicans dropped their unprecedented delay of a Pentagon
choice and allowed the nomination to move forward on a 71-27 vote.
Hagel,
66, a former two-term Nebraska senator and twice-wounded Vietnam combat
veteran, succeeds Defense Secretary Leon Panetta. Hagel, who is
expected to be sworn in at the Pentagon on Wednesday, said in a
statement that he was honored that the president and the Senate "have
entrusted me to serve our nation once again."
Obama
welcomed the bipartisan Senate vote, although 41 Republicans opposed
his nominee, and said in a statement that "we will have the defense
secretary our nation needs and the leader our troops deserve."
The
president looked past the divisions and said he was grateful to Hagel
"for reminding us that when it comes to our national defense, we are not
Democrats or Republicans, we are Americans, and our greatest
responsibility is the security of the American people."
Republicans
had opposed their onetime colleague, casting him as unqualified for the
job, hostile toward Israel and soft on Iran. The objections remained
strong well after the vote.
"I continue to
have serious questions about whether Chuck Hagel is up to the job of
being our secretary of defense," Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., said in a
statement. "I hope, for the sake of our own national security, he
exceeds expectations."
Hagel joins Obama's
retooled second-term, national security team of Secretary of State John
Kerry and CIA Director-designate John Brennan at a time of uncertainty
for a military emerging from two wars and fighting worldwide terrorism
with smaller, deficit-driven budgets.
Among
his daunting challenges are deciding on troop levels in Afghanistan as
the United States winds down its combat presence and dealing with $46
billion in budget cuts set to kick in on Friday. He also will have to
work with lawmakers who spent weeks vilifying him.
Republicans insisted that Hagel was battered and bloodied after their repeated attacks during the protracted political fight.
"He
will take office with the weakest support of any defense secretary in
modern history, which will make him less effective on his job," said
Sen. John Cornyn of Texas, the Senate GOP's No. 2 Republican.
Not so, said Democratic Sen. Jack Reed, who pointed out that Hagel now has the title and the fight is history.
"All have to work together for the interest of the country," said Reed, D-R.I.
The
vote ended one of the most bitter fights over a Cabinet choice and
former senator since 1989 when the Democratic-led Senate defeated newly
elected President George H.W. Bush's nomination of Republican John Tower
to be defense secretary.
In the course of the
rancorous, seven-week nomination fight, Republicans, led by freshman
Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas and Sen. Jim Inhofe of Oklahoma, insinuated that
Hagel has a cozy relationship with Iran and received payments for
speeches from extreme or radical groups. Those comments drew a rebuke
from Democrats and some Republicans.
Sen. Carl
Levin, D-Mich., the chairman of the Armed Services Committee, dismissed
the "unfair innuendoes" against Hagel and called him an "outstanding
American patriot" whose background as an enlisted soldier would send a
positive message to the nation's servicemen and women.
Sen.
Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., questioned how the confirmation process
devolved into a character assassination in which Hagel was accused of
"having secret ties with our enemies."
"I
sincerely hope that the practice of challenging nominations with
innuendo and inference, rather than facts and figures, was an aberration
and not a roadmap," she said in a statement after the vote.
Obama
got no points with the GOP for tapping the former two-term Republican
senator. GOP lawmakers excoriated Hagel and cast him as a radical far
out of the mainstream.
Sen. John McCain,
R-Ariz., clashed with his onetime friend over his opposition to
President George W. Bush's decision to send an extra 30,000 troops to
Iraq in 2007 at a point when the war seemed in danger of being lost.
Hagel, who voted to authorize military force in Iraq, later opposed the
conflict, comparing it to
Vietnam and arguing that it shifted the focus
from Afghanistan.
McCain said several GOP
lawmakers also had "a lot of ill will" toward the moderate Republican
for his criticism of Bush and his backing for Democratic candidates.
Shortly
after a White House meeting with Obama on immigration on Tuesday,
McCain voted against his onetime friend and fellow Vietnam veteran.
Republicans
also challenged Hagel about a May 2012 study that he co-authored for
the advocacy group Global Zero, which called for an 80 percent reduction
of U.S. nuclear weapons and the eventual elimination of all the world's
nuclear arms.
In an echo of the 2012
presidential campaign, Hagel faced an onslaught of criticism by
well-funded, Republican-leaning outside groups that labeled the former
senator "anti-Israel" and pressured senators to oppose the nomination.
The groups ran television and print ads criticizing Hagel.
Opponents
were particularly incensed by Hagel's use of the term "Jewish lobby" to
refer to pro-Israel groups. He apologized, saying he should have used
another term and should not have said those groups have intimidated
members of the Senate into favoring actions contrary to U.S. interests.
The
nominee spent weeks reaching out to members of the Senate, meeting
individually with lawmakers to address their concerns and seeking to
reassure them about his policies.
Hagel's
inconsistent performance during some eight hours of testimony during his
confirmation hearing last
month undercut his cause.
On
Feb. 12, the Armed Services Committee approved the nomination on a
party-line vote of 14-11. Two days later, a Democratic move to vote on
the nomination fell a few votes short as Republicans insisted they
needed more time to consider the pick.
Hagel's
nomination also became entangled in Republican demands for more
information about the deadly assault on the U.S. diplomatic mission in
Benghazi, Libya, last September. Ambassador Chris Stevens and three
other Americans were killed in that attack.
Republicans
allowed the nomination to move forward, with 18 Republicans joining the
Democrats. Many had warned against the precedent of denying a president
his Cabinet choices.
Paul's vote for Hagel
came as something of a surprise. Moira Bagley, a spokeswoman for the
senator, said
that while he disagrees with Hagel on a number of issues,
Paul believes a president should have some leeway in his political
appointments.
Missing the vote was Democratic Sen. Frank Lautenberg of New Jersey.
