2016 Postmortem
Related: About this forumSenate Democrats Delay Hagel Vote After Desperate And Unprecedented GOP Stall Tactics
Senate Armed Services Committee chair Carl Levin (D-MI) will reportedly delay the committees vote on Chuck Hagels nomination to be the next Secretary of Defense.
Republicans are demanding that Hagel produce the texts of private speeches he made and disclose the financial dealings of private companies he is associated with. A spokesperson for Levin told ThinkProgress that the committee is working on their concerns.
The vote was expected to take place as early as Thursday, but Republicans led by Sens. James Inhofe (R-OK) and Ted Cruz (R-TX) asked that the vote be delayed after Hagel citing legal and logistics issues said he could not give the them everything theyre asking for.
Its up in the air, the committee staffer told Politico. Levin isnt interested in pushing it through against their will. Were trying to resolve their concerns, and hopefully we can get it addressed by tomorrow, a committee staffer told Politico on Wednesday.
But now it seems like those concerns wont be met and its unclear just how they can or should be addressed at all, seeing that Hagel has said he doesnt have the texts of all his private speeches and the business dealings of private companies and organizations Hagel is affiliated with is, as the Atlantics Steve Clemons points out, going to be a really fun slippery slope:
The entangled relationships of all US senators and spouses would be screened to see what they might be able to cough up about firms they have some connection to but dont run.
I dont think we should go down that road but if Senator Cruz compels it, it should be interesting.
MORE...
http://thinkprogress.org/security/2013/02/06/1552761/levin-hagel-gop/
HooptieWagon
(17,064 posts)I think Sens Inohofe and Cruz should produce texts of all private speeches they've given, and details of all finances with companies with which they have dealings.
pacalo
(24,721 posts)TwilightGardener
(46,416 posts)by foreign interests. Let that sink in--it's downright Rovian: accuse your enemy of exactly what it is that YOU are doing (and we know the forces against Hagel--they're, uh...not all domestic). Also Rovian, attack his strength--in this case, Hagel's integrity and patriotism. I sincerely hope that Levin is just allowing one short token delay to keep the R's from bitching and filibustering when the big vote finally happens.