SENATE ARMED SERVICES COMMITTEE CLEARS HAGEL, WITH GOP OBJECTIONS

The Senate Armed Services Committee cleared the nomination of Defense Secretary nominee Chuck Hagel by a straight party line vote of 14-11 yesterday, but not before Republicans took another chance to weigh in with their concerns about the former Nebraska senator. A vote on Hagel’s nomination by the full Senate is expected by the end of the week, and Republicans have threatened to try to put a hold on Hagel or filibuster the nomination, which would require 60 votes to overcome, though Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said yesterday he would not honor holds on Hagel. Republicans have raised concerns about a variety of Hagel’s positions, including his participation with the nuclear abolition group Global Zero. Hagel helped author a report last year that suggested the U.S. could reduce the total size of its nuclear stockpile to 900 weapons and remove the ICBM leg of the triad. Hagel suggested those positions were “illustrative” rather than recommendations, but Republicans did not appear convinced yesterday. “It seems to me with the North Koreans testing, with Iran marching toward a nuclear weapon, that’s a deep concern that our secretary of defense less than a year ago would sign onto a report that would state that position,” Sen. Kelly Ayotte (R-N.H.) said.

 

Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) emphasized that Hagel’s nuclear stance was an “extreme position” that is “contrary to the established bipartisan commission that we established, the concurrent bipartisan policy of U.S. Defense Department.” He added: “As we go forward, we’re going to have to be very careful about how we handle strategic nuclear weapons. There is no doubt our allies are very uneasy. They don’t understand where we are heading. They don’t have the confidence that we need them to have. And if an ally doesn’t think that we’re going to be there for them, then will they not have a high incentive to build a nuclear arsenal themselves, to defend themselves? That worries me.”