Hagel Derailed —– For Now -- FrontPage Magzine, Arnold Ahlert

[bsteadman]

Hagel Derailed —– For Now

FrontPage Magazine
Arnold Ahlert
2/15/2013

Excerpt:

Defying a furious White House and Senate Democrats, Senate Republicans successfully filibustered Chuck Hagel’s nomination for Secretary of Defense. The tally was 58-40, with one “present” vote. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) switched his vote from “yes” to “no,” a procedural move that allows him to revisit Hagel’s nomination after the Senate recess. The move was historic, in that a Cabinet Secretary has never been successfully filibustered before. Republicans claimed they will allow an up-or-down vote on Hagel only after they get more information about the debacle in Benghazi. For the moment, Obama’s dangerous foreign policy agenda, personified by the Hagel nomination, has been slowed. But it will not be for long.

Republicans also want more information from Hagel himself. They blame Democrats for attempting to rush the vote, and the White House for failing to provide more information regarding compensation Hagel received for speeches he has made. Earlier this week, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) argued that such records were necessary because Hagel may have given speeches, or received compensation, from “radical or extreme groups.” This allegation enraged Hagel supporters, who characterized it as “McCarthyite,” but Cruz didn’t back down. “We saw with this nomination something truly extraordinary, which is the government of Iran formally and publicly praising the nomination of a Defense Secretary,” said Cruz on Tuesday. “I would suggest to you that to my knowledge that is unprecedented, to see a foreign nation like Iran publicly celebrating a nomination.”

As usual, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) was far more conciliatory. “I think it’s appropriate to wait until we come back,” he said, referring to the fact that the Senate will be on break until February 25. “I think there’s plenty of time to have any further questions answered and I intend to vote for cloture then…He’d certainly get mine and a number of others.”
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[bsteadman]

Senate GOP Agree on Hagel Vote After Obama Offers Benghazi Letter

Newsmax
2/15/2013

Excerpt:

Senators agreed on a path toward confirmation of Chuck Hagel as U.S. defense secretary, after Republicans said they will drop opposition to acting on his nomination once lawmakers return from a weeklong break.

An initial effort yesterday to cut off debate fell short of the 60 votes needed because Republicans demanded more time. The vote on the so-called cloture motion was 58-40, and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid immediately announced the next roll call would be held Feb. 26.

Yesterday’s Republican move to delay action marked the first time the minority party in the Senate had threatened a filibuster to block a nominee to lead the Pentagon. Reid, a Nevada Democrat, said he scheduled the initial vote yesterday because Republicans have engaged in “one stall after another” in an increasingly acrimonious fight against Hagel.

“I will vote on cloture the day we get back, and I believe enough of my colleagues will do the same,” Senator John McCain, an Arizona Republican who has led criticism of Hagel, said on the Senate floor. Once debate is cut off, Hagel would have the majority he needs for confirmation because Democrats control 55 votes in the 100-member Senate.

Obama’s choice of Hagel, 66, to replace retiring Defense Secretary Leon Panetta has been challenged by Republicans because of the former Republican senator’s past opposition to unilateral sanctions against Iran, his comments about the influence of what he once called “the Jewish lobby,” and his opposition to the 2007 U.S. troop surge in Iraq.

Senate History

In only two previous cases has a Cabinet nominee required 60 votes to overcome a filibuster on the Senate floor, according to Betty Koed, the chamber’s associate historian. They were President Ronald Reagan’s 1987 pick for Commerce Secretary, C. William Verity, and President George W. Bush’s 2006 choice of Dirk Kempthorne to be Interior Secretary. Both overcame the higher vote threshold to win confirmation.

After yesterday’s debate, Reid said the Republican-led delay raised questions about the Pentagon’s leadership at a time of heightened tensions with Syria, North Korea and other nations. He said the delay may give opponents in Congress further opportunities to derail Hagel’s nomination.

“I hope nothing goes wrong that we’ll rue the day, more than just embarrassing the president, the Senate and the country in not confirming the president’s nomination of this good man from Nebraska,” Reid said.

‘Political Posturing’

“Senate Republicans put political posturing ahead of our nation’s security,” White House press secretary Jay Carney said in a statement. The U.S. and its allies will talk about the war in Afghanistan at a North Atlantic Treaty Organization meeting in Brussels next week, Carney said, “and our next secretary of defense should be there.”

Panetta has said he will stay on until a successor is confirmed, and he is planning to go to the Brussels conference.

Senator John Cornyn of Texas, the Senate’s No. 2 Republican leader, said it was “premature” to try to close off debate when lawmakers in his party were making “reasonable” requests of the White House for more information.

“This is not an effort to kill this nomination,” Cornyn said on the Senate floor. Senators Lamar Alexander of Tennessee and Lindsey Graham of South Carolina were among Republicans who said yesterday that they would vote next time to end the debate.

Republicans said Reid took a risky move in scheduling the vote when some members of their party wanted more information about a confirmation approved by the Senate Armed Services on a party-line 14-11 vote just two days earlier.

Demanding Information

Senator Ted Cruz, a first-term Tea Party-backed Texas Republican, has demanded more information about Hagel’s finances and speaking engagements.

Graham had called for a delay until the White House explained what Obama did personally to encourage military action during the Sept. 11 attack on the U.S. mission in Benghazi, Libya, that killed U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans.

In a letter to Graham and two other Republican senators, White House counsel Kathryn Ruemmler said that then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton called Libya’s interim President Mohammed Yussef Magariaf “on behalf of the president on the evening of Sept. 11, 2012, to coordinate additional support to protect Americans in Libya and access to Libyan territory.”

Ruemmler said the administration “has cooperated with the Armed Services Committee and the Congress to provide an extensive amount of information” on the Benghazi attack. She cited 20 briefings, 10 hearings and the providing of 10,000 pages of documents.
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[bsteadman]

Muslim Group Won’t Release Hagel Tape -- accuses reporter of racism and bigotry

Atlas Shrugs
Pamela Geller
2/16/2013

Excerpt:

No matter the issue, if you dare question a Muslim group, you are a racist-islamophobic-anti-Muslim-bigot.

Hagel has plenty to hide. But if the Muslim group wouldn't release the Obama tape, does anyone really expect them to release the Hagel tape?

"Arab-American Group Won’t Release Hagel Tape" Free Beacon, Alana Goodman February 13, 2013 (thanks to Van)

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D., Nev.) filed for cloture on the nomination of Chuck Hagel as secretary of defense late Wednesday afternoon as Republican senators continued to call for additional disclosure of material from Hagel.

Among the requested materials: the full text and details of several speeches Hagel failed to report to the Senate Armed Services Committee that have since been uncovered.

Fox News Channel on Tuesday reported on two speeches Hagel failed to disclose as requested, including one given in 2008 to the annual conference of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC).

The ADC is a controversial nonprofit whose conference last year featured speakers prominent in the Boycott Divestment Sanctions movement targeting Israel. The 2012 conference also featured an award presentation celebrating an author whose essays include one titled, “Zionism is a form of racism.”

The ADC also has not disclosed the full video of Hagel’s 2008 speech, while refusing to release its tax records as required by federal law.

A reporter for the Free Beacon went to the ADC’s office on Tuesday to request the video, as well as the organization’s most recent Form 990, which lists financial and donor information and which nonprofits must present upon in-person request.

However, ADC Vice President Nabil Mohamad told the Free Beacon that the video was in an “archive” in Maryland and not available. He also declined to provide the group’s 990.

When the Free Beacon attempted to follow up on Wednesday, phone calls and emails to the ADC were not returned and the organization refused to let a reporter enter its office.
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