Senate Confirms Geren as Army Secretary

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http://public.cq.com/docs/cqm/cqmidday110-000002550782.html

Senate Confirms Geren as Army Secretary

The Senate on Friday confirmed the nomination of Preston M. “Pete” Geren as Army secretary.

Geren, a former Democratic House member from Texas (1989-1997), has been acting secretary since Francis J. Harvey resigned in March amid the scandal over conditions at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C. He was confirmed by voice vote.

During his June 19 confirmation hearing, Geren stirred controversy by saying the Army was considering extending troop deployments past 15 months if the troop levels of the president’s “surge” in Iraq are maintained through the spring of 2008. The Army in April decided to extend troop deployments from 12 to 15 months as part of President Bush’s move to boost total troop numbers in Iraq.

Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates down played Geren’s comments in a June 21 news briefing. “I think beyond 15 months is a worst-case scenario, and we’re focused on the 15-month and rolling that back as soon as we can,” Gates said.

An effort by Sen. Jim Webb, D-Va., to amend the fiscal 2008 defense authorization bill (HR 1585) to dictate minimum “dwell time” at home between deployments failed two days ago, when supporters fell four votes short of the 60 needed to cut off a GOP filibuster against it.