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G.O.P. Senators Block Vote on Defense Post for Hagel G.O.P. Senators Block Vote on Defense Post for Hagel
(about 3 hours later)
WASHINGTON — Senate Republicans on Thursday blocked a vote to confirm former Senator Chuck Hagel as secretary of defense, arguing that Democrats were trying to rush a choice that they needed more time to consider. WASHINGTON — Senate Republicans on Thursday blocked President Obama’s nominee to lead the Pentagon in a defiant move likely to further strain partisan tensions while preventing the White House, at least temporarily, from assembling its second-term national security team.
In a 58-to-40 vote that broke down almost strictly along party lines, Mr. Hagel, a Republican, fell just short of the 60 votes needed to cut off debate and clear the way for final consideration of his nomination. Republicans said they intended to allow a vote on their former colleague when the Senate returns from a break in 10 days, but Democrats said the Republican position amounted to a historic filibuster of the nominee for a post that is usually filled with bipartisan support. In a result that broke down almost strictly along party lines, Democratic senators could not muster the support to advance the nomination of Chuck Hagel, a former Republican senator from Nebraska, to a final vote. The vote was 58 to 40, falling short of the 60 that were needed.
Democrats vowed to hold another vote when the Senate returns from recess. And all signs indicated that many Republicans who voted against Mr. Hagel on Thursday would not do so then. Democrats vowed to try again to resuscitate the nomination of Mr. Hagel, a decorated Vietnam veteran, when the Senate returns from recess in 10 days. Several Republicans who voted against Mr. Hagel said they would not block a final vote.
“Republicans have made an unfortunate choice to ratchet up the level of obstruction in Washington,” said Senator Harry Reid of Nevada, the majority leader, who said that he planned to call Mr. Hagel and say: “I’m sorry for the president, I’m sorry for the country, and I’m sorry for you. But we’re not going to give up.” Democrats accused the opponents of mounting the first-ever filibuster against a Pentagon chief for their own political purposes.
All day, a tense standoff played out in the Capitol as one party tried to force the other into a more politically undesirable position. Republicans, aware that Democrats would not relish calling a vote that could result in an embarrassing setback for the president, had hoped to press Mr. Reid to back down and reschedule after the Senate returns from its recess. “Just when you thought things couldn’t get worse, it gets worse,” said Senator Harry Reid of Nevada, the majority leader. “I guess to be able to run for the Senate as a Republican in most places of the country, you need to have a résumé that says, ‘I helped filibuster one of the president’s nominees.’ ”
Democrats, mindful that Republicans did not want to be blamed for making what would be seen as a historic affront to a sitting president, allowed knowing that it might fail and accused their colleagues of hitting a new low of obstructionism. The vote represented the first time in history that the Senate has required that a nominee for secretary of defense clear the 60-vote hurdle before a final, simple majority vote. Republicans, who took the extraordinary step of rebuffing their former colleague and fellow party member, insisted that Democrats were trying to rush a vote on a crucial cabinet position that deserved more consideration.
At 10 a.m. on Thursday, after the Republican leadership signaled to Democrats that it intended to seek a further delay, Mr. Reid said he would wait no longer and set the vote for Friday morning. “We didn’t need to have this vote today,” said Senator John Cornyn of Texas, the second-ranking Senate Republican. “But the White House and the majority leader were determined to have this vote in order to try to get a story in the newspaper, one that misrepresents the nature of the objection on this side.”
But just after 3 p.m. on Thursday, he came to the Senate floor to move that it be called instead at 4:15. That forced senators like John McCain of Arizona and Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, veterans of the Senate Armed Services Committee who have said that they find the act of filibustering a nominee for defense secretary distasteful, to cast a vote that had the same result as a filibuster, even if they refused to call it that. All day, a tense standoff played out in the Capitol as one party tried to force the other into a more politically undesirable position. Republicans, calculating that Democrats might want to avoid forcing a vote that could result in an embarrassing setback for the president, had hoped to press Mr. Reid to back down and reschedule after the Senate returns from its recess.
Mr. Hagel, a former Republican senator from Nebraska and decorated Vietnam War veteran, had earlier appeared to have at least the 60 votes required to break a Republican filibuster. But Mr. McCain and other Republicans who had said they might oppose Mr. Hagel but would not back a filibuster said they would not support ending debate until they received more detailed answers to questions about the administration’s response to the attack on the American diplomatic mission in Benghazi, Libya. Democrats, mindful that Republicans did not want to be blamed for jeopardizing the Pentagon’s stability for political purposes, decided to press ahead and require Republicans to record a vote against Mr. Hagel, allowing Democrats to accuse them of a new level of obstructionism.
Specifically, a group of Republican senators including Mr. McCain and Mr. Graham have asked the president whether he spoke with anyone in the Libyan government to request assistance during the attack. While the showdown vote was set for Friday morning, just after 3 p.m. on Thursday Mr. Reid came to the Senate floor to move that it be called instead at 4:15. That forced senators like John McCain of Arizona and Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, members of the Senate Armed Services Committee who have said that they find the act of filibustering a defense secretary distasteful, to cast votes that had the same result as a filibuster, even if they refused to call it that.
In an effort to address these questions and quiet the political uproar that has erupted over the Hagel vote, the White House on Thursday wrote to the senators informing them that Mr. Obama spoke to the Libyan president the evening after the attack, not the day of.   Four Republicans joined Democrats in voting that debate on the nomination should end: Senators Thad Cochran of Mississippi, Susan Collins of Maine, Mike Johanns of Nebraska and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska. Senator Orrin G. Hatch of Utah voted present because he said he was wary of the precedent a no vote would set, even though anything other than a yes vote had the same practical effect on the outcome.
“We continue to urge the full Senate to act swiftly and confirm former Senator Hagel,” said the letter, which was from the White House counsel, Kathryn Ruemmler. Because of parliamentary rules, Mr. Reid voted with Republicans to allow him to bring the Hagel nomination back for another vote. Counting Mr. Reid, Mr. Hagel was actually just one vote shy of the 60 needed.
Mr. Graham demurred when asked if his concerns had been addressed. Given the outcome, a major matter of concern for the White House over the next 10 days is that Mr. Hagel’s opponents — an array of groups that includes conservative and pro-Israel forces — could intensify their campaigns to defeat his nomination.
“Nobody wants to filibuster the nomination,” Mr. Graham told reporters. “But on our side there’s a consensus that we need more information, and we have a right to get it.” Leaders of these groups said in interviews that they expected their efforts to include more phone calls urging conservative voters to tell their senators to vote no; new efforts to unearth embarrassing details from Mr. Hagel’s past; and, potentially, a new round of television advertisements pressuring Democrats to drop their support for him.
The White House strongly condemned Republican efforts to stall the vote, saying they were sending the wrong signal to the world. "We urge the Republicans in the Senate to drop their delay," Josh Earnest, a spokesman for the president, told reporters aboard Air Force One. “There is a clear majority in the United States Senate for Senator Hagel’s confirmation. These delaying tactics are unconscionable, and they should end right away.” Jim Rutenberg and Jonathan Weisman contributed reporting.