(CNN) – The Senate failed to garner enough votes Thursday to stop a filibuster against Defense Secretary nominee Chuck Hagel.
Fifty-eight voted to move forward with the nomination, while 40 voted
to hold it up. One senator, Republican Sen. Orrin Hatch, announced
present, and Republican Sen. David Vitter missed the vote.
Democrats needed 60 votes to end a filibuster, but the move failed
due to GOP opposition surrounding questions about Hagel's finances, as
well as remaining tension between some Republican senators and the White
House over the terror attack in Benghazi, Libya.
The chamber largely voted along party lines, with the exception of four Republicans who voted with Democrats.
Republicans, however, signaled they're willing to allow the
nomination to proceed after recess, when only a simple majority of 51
votes are required to stop a filibuster. The Senate is not in session
next week.
Filibusters of cabinet officials are extremely rare, largely because
senators typically believe a president has a right to pick the leaders
of his government.
"I regret that Republican senators, except the valiant four, chose to
filibuster the nomination," Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said on
the Senate floor. "Republicans have made an unfortunate choice to
ratchet up the level of destruction here in Washington. Just when you
thought things couldn't get worse, it gets worse."
The White House sent a letter to Capitol Hill Thursday stating that
former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton called Libyan President
Mohammed Magariaf the same night as the attack. President Obama,
according to the letter, did not speak to the Libyan president until the
evening of the day following the violence.
Read the letter obtained from a Democratic official here.
Before committing to vote on Hagel's nomination, three GOP
senators–Sens. Lindsey Graham, John McCain and Kelly Ayotte–had demanded
answers about the attack in a letter Tuesday to the Obama
administration. Graham publicly stated that he was specifically asking
whether Obama called Libyan officials on the night of the attack against
the consulate in Benghazi, which left four Americans dead.
The administration had been wary of responding-saying the GOP was
simply moving goal posts-but the response was a sign they were losing
patience and getting nervous about the Hagel nomination.
Showing further scramble on the part of the White House to keep Hagel
afloat in the confirmation process, Vice President Joe Biden made calls
Thursday to Republican senators about the nominee, according to a
senior Democratic source.
Hagel has been battling his way through a rocky nomination process.
Democrats were at one point confident they had the 60 votes, including
five Republicans, needed to stop a GOP filibuster, but concerns suddenly
escalated Wednesday when McCain said he was reconsidering his previous
commitment to vote against a filibuster.
McCain, R-Arizona, now says he's satisfied with the answers the White
House provided to questions about Benghazi and that he is in
negotiations to get answers about Hagel's finances. Sen. Ted Cruz,
R-Texas, and other GOP senators want to know the source of Hagel's
income in the years after he left the Senate.
"I think it was an adequate response, yes," McCain said about the
Benghazi matter. "We are working on and having negotiations now trying
to smooth this thing out and get it done."
But he later said on the Senate floor that will vote "no" to ending
the filibuster on Thursday. He will, however, vote "yes" after recess.
"That is sufficient time to get any additional questions answered and
I will vote in favor of cloture on the day we get back and I believe
that my colleagues, enough of my colleagues will do the same," he said. A
cloture vote would allow the nomination to proceed.
Graham, R-South Carolina, agreed and also told reporters he would
vote for cloture after recess unless some huge "bombshell" comes out
over the next week. His comments signaled that the votes will be there
for Hagel when the Senate resumes session the week after next.
Multiple Republican senators told CNN earlier Thursday that they also
planned to vote against ending a filibuster, saying the vote is too
rushed with outstanding questions. When they hold a filibuster vote
after the chamber gets back from recess, then they will allow the
nomination to go through and the Senate can hold an up-or-down vote on
Hagel.
Democrats, on the other hand, see this as a time to make it seem like
Republicans are opposing Hagel for political reasons and holding the
filibuster vote Thursday, as opposed to after recess, would further
illustrate that objective.
Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, one of the few lawmakers to
go against her own party on the vote, said she voted for cloture
because "I said I was not going to support a filibuster, and I stuck by
my word." Murkowski was one of the senators who spoke with Biden on
Thursday.
Susan Collins of Maine, another Republican senator who voted yes,
said she thinks the president should be able to choose his own cabinet.
But she plans to vote no on Hagel when it comes to an up-or-down vote.
Reid took to the Senate floor on Thursday morning, building pressure
on Republicans to back off of their threats. He added that the letter
sent from the White House answers "all their questions."
"This isn't a high school getting ready for a football game or some
play that's being produced at the high school," he also said. "This is,
we're trying to confirm somebody to run the defenses of our country, the
military of our country."
Outgoing Defense Secretary Leon Panetta says he will remain in his
position until a defense nominee is "sworn into office," a senior
Pentagon official said Thursday.
Administration officials and Congressional Democrats said they were
on the phone late into the night Wednesday discussing how to get
Republican votes. The sources said the administration had been told they
did not have enough GOP votes to gain the necessary 60 to stop a
filibuster.
Meanwhile, some questioned whether Hagel would withdraw his
nomination. But one senior administration official said that idea is
"insane."
Referring to the GOP, the official said, "No one knows what they really want. There is nothing real to be had."
"They wanted testimony from (former Secretary of State) Hillary
Rodham Clinton and Leon Panetta and they got it...there is nothing real
to be had," the official continued.
Hagel's brother Tom, a law professor who's in constant contact with his brother, also said Hagel will not withdraw his name.
"Knowing him, not only will he not withdraw, but he will be motivated to fight harder," he said.
Asked Wednesday in a press conference whether the GOP was moving goal posts on the issue, Graham gave a firm "no."
"I'm gonna hit you, and keep hitting you," he vowed. "Absolutely.
You're not going to get away without answering the basic questions. Did
you make a phone call on September 11th to any Libyan government
official using the weight and the voice of the president of the United
States to help these people in their time of great need."
Speaking aboard Air Force One, however, White House Deputy Press
Secretary Josh Earnest stressed earlier Thursday a sense of urgency in
filling the new defense secretary position.
"It is difficult to explain to our allies why exactly that is
happening. It also sends a signal to our men and women in uniform who
are currently deployed around the world and who are currently serving in
the frontlines of Afghanistan and are taking fire today," he told
reporters. "They need a new secretary of defense. So we urge Republicans
in the Senate to drop their delay."
Chuck Hagel
