Hagel Senate Committee Vote Scheduled
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US Senate(WASHINGTON) — After a delay last week, the Senate Armed Services Committee will vote Tuesday on the nomination of Chuck Hagel to be the next defense secretary.
The announcement came Monday from the chairman of the committee, Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., who just last week cancelled an expected vote, announcing then that the committee’s review of Hagel was not yet complete.
Hagel, the former Republican senator from Nebraska, was nominated by President Obama to replace outgoing Defense Secretary Leon Panetta in early January, and has faced an uphill confirmation battle in Congress.
Republicans on the committee have questioned Hagel’s position on Iran and his commitment to Israel and have asked for more information on paid speeches and foreign donors to organizations the former senator has been affiliated with.
This weekend Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., a member of the Armed Services Committee, said he intends to hold up the nomination of Hagel, as well as John Brennan to be the next CIA director, until his questions about the terrorist attack in Benghazi in September of last year are answered.
If Hagel is voted though the Senate Armed Services Committee Tuesday, his nomination would be next up for a vote in the full Senate, likely this week.
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