WASHINGTON — Senate Republicans on Thursday blocked the nomination of former GOP Sen. Chuck Hagel as the nation’s next defense secretary over unrelated questions about President Barack Obama’s actions in the aftermath of the deadly raid on the U.S. diplomatic mission in Libya.
Obama accused Republicans of playing politics with national security during wartime, and Democrats vowed to revive the nomination after Congress’ week-long break.
By 58-40, with one abstention, the Senate fell short of the 60-vote threshold required to advance Hagel’s nomination to a final, up-or down vote on his confirmation. Four Republicans voted with nearly all Democrats to end the debate and proceed to a final vote: Thad Cochran of Mississippi, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, Susan Collins of Maine and Mike Johanns of Nebraska.
Republican John Boozman of Arkansas joined with his party in blocking the vote to confirm Hagel. Democrat Mark Pryor favored moving on to a final vote.
Obama criticized Republicans for their unprecedented filibuster of a nominee for defense secretary and insisted that Hagel - a former two term Republican senator from Nebraska and twice-wounded Vietnam combat veteran - will eventually win confirmation. He would succeed Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, who is stepping down after four years as CIA director and Pentagon chief.
“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 to make sure that our troops are getting the kind of strategy and mission that they deserve,” the president said in an online chat sponsored by Google.
In the final minutes of the vote tally, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., switched his vote from “yes” to “no,” a procedural move that allows him to revive the nomination after the break. He set another vote for Feb. 26.
“Just when you thought things couldn’t get worse, it gets worse,” the Democratic leader said.
The successful Republican effort to block a vote on Hagel leaves one of the most contentious nominations of the Obama presidency in limbo, although Republicans signaled that they would relent and allow a simple majority vote on Hagel when they return from their recess.
Sen. Lamar Alexander, RTenn., voted against ending debate. But he said he expects to change his vote, and he believes that many of his GOP colleagues will do the same.
“I’m confident that after a reasonable period of time I’m going to vote to end the debate so that we can have an up-or-down vote on Chuck Hagel,” Alexander said. “I suspect there will be a large number of Republican senators who also do that.”
Echoing a complaint by other Republicans, Alexander called Thursday’s vote “unfortunate” and “unnecessary” because Hagel’s nomination came up on the Senate floor too quickly - just two days after it was approved by a divided Armed Services Committee.
Hagel’s nomination has faced well-funded opposition that has unleashed a barrage of criticism in campaign-style television and print ads. He has faced intense opposition from Republicans, who have challenged his past statements and votes on Israel, Iran, Iraq and nuclear weapons.
Additionally, Sen. Ted Cruz, a first-term Tea Party backed Texas Republican, has demanded more information about Hagel’s finances and speaking engagements.
At least one group said shortly after the vote that it would redouble its efforts to defeat Obama’s choice.
“The Emergency Committee for Israel will continue to work to convince a majority of senators of the undeniable truth that we can do much, much better than Mr. Hagel,” William Kristol, chairman of the group said in a statement.
The vote on Hagel combined with the delay on CIA Director-designate John Brennan’s nomination puts Republicans in a tough position with Democrats certain to cast them as filibustering two critical members of Obama’s second term national security team.
“Today’s vote to filibuster Chuck Hagel’s nomination by Republicans is a disgrace, and the GOP is now holding America’s security and its troops hostage,” said Jon Soltz, an Iraq war veteran and chairman of VoteVets.org.
Republicans, led by Sens. John McCain of Arizona and Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, have been blocking the confirmation of their former colleague until they receive information from the White House on when Obama contacted Libyan officials after the attack on the U.S. mission in Benghazi last September in which Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans were killed.
The White House responded to questions about Benghazi by saying in a letter that former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton called Libyan President Mohamed Magariaf on Obama’s behalf on Sept. 11, the day of the attack, to coordinate additional support to protect Americans in Libya. White House counsel Kathryn Ruemmler said Obama spoke to Magariaf on the evening of Sept. 12.
The Obama administration also had disclosed the calls at the time they were made.
Graham said Thursday that the letter shows that Obama “never picked up the phone” the night of the attacks. He said direct involvement by Obama might have prevented two of the deaths at a CIA annex a mile from the consulate an hour after the initial attack.Graham and McCain vowed to continue seeking information from the administration on the attacks.
Reid took to the floor Thursday to denounce Republicans for trying to use the confirmation process for political gain and accused them of undermining the nation’s security.
“This isn’t a high school getting ready for a football game,” Reid said. “We’re trying to confirm somebody to run the defenses of our country, the military of our country.”
He added: “For the sake of our national security, we need to put aside this political theater, and that’s what it is. People are worried about primary elections. We know how the Tea Party goes after Republicans when they aren’t conservative enough. Is that something they need to have on their resume? ‘I filibustered one of the president’s nominees?’ Is that what they want?”
Graham is among the senators up for re-election next year.
Reid said it was “shocking” and “tragic” that the GOP would attempt to block Hagel’s nomination at a time when the U.S. military is engaged in so many places around the world. “Not a single nominee for secretary of defense ever in the history of our country has been filibustered,” he said on the Senate floor.
In the nation’s history of hundreds of Cabinet nominees, the Senate has rejected only nine nominees, and 21were withdrawn or no action was taken, according to Senate historian Donald Ritchie. On just two occasions has the Senate imposed a 60-vote threshold for a Cabinet nominee, and neither was for defense secretary.
At a Pentagon award ceremony Thursday for Clinton, Panetta said it was fitting to recognize her accomplishments as secretary of state on Valentine’s Day. And he said the second-best Valentine’s Day present would be for the Senate to confirm Hagel, and allow Panetta and his wife to “get the hell out of town.” He said he’s got his belongings packed.
“I feel like it’s Groundhog Day around here,” he added, referring to the 1993 movie about a television weatherman who repeatedly relives the same day.
Republicans accused Democrats of setting up a test vote Thursday that they knew would fail so the president’s allies could paint Republicans as obstructionists during the break for Washington’s Birthday, which is celebrated on the third Monday of February.
“This is not any attempt to kill this nomination,” said Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas. “This is not a filibuster. I realize that’s the headline that the majority leader would like the newspapers to write.” Information for this article was contributed by Richard Lardner, Alan Fram, Donna Cassata, Jim Kuhnhenn and Robert Burns of The Associated Press; by William Douglas and Lesley Clark of Mc-Clatchy Newspapers; by Jeremy W. Peters of The New York Times and by Laura Litvan of Bloomberg News.
Front Section, Pages 1 on 02/15/2013