Obama’s defence secretary nominee faces rare Senate hurdle

[1]

For the first time in American history, Senate Republicans blocked a nominee for secretary of defence, evoking an angry response from the White House, which termed the posturing against Chuck Hagel’s nomination an action against “national interest.”

However, the White House and lawmakers exuded confidence that the Senate would confirm Hagel as the next defence secretary when the Congress comes back from recess on February 25.

“Today’s action runs against both the majority will of the Senate and our nation’s interest,” White House press secretary Jay Carney said after the Senate Republicans in a 58-40 vote blocked Hagel’s nomination as defence secretary from proceeding to a final up-or-down vote.

“This waste of time is not without consequence. We have 66,000 men and women deployed in Afghanistan, and we need our new secretary of defence to be a part of significant decisions about how we bring that war to a responsible end,” Carney said.

“Next week in Brussels, the United States will meet with our allies to talk about the transition in Afghanistan at the NATO defence ministerial, and our next secretary of defence should be there. With questions about the sequester looming over the Pentagon, our secretary of defence should be in place,” he argued.

“For the sake of national security, it’s time to stop playing politics with our department of defence, and to move beyond the distractions and delay. Allow this war hero an up or down vote, and let our troops have the secretary of defence they deserve,” Carney said.

Later in a statement, Senator Ran Paul, who has blocked the nomination of Hagel and also that of John Brennan, as CIA director, defended his decision.

Support of at least 60 Senators is required to remove this block, to which the Democrats could fell short by two votes yesterday.