The committee vote to confirm the Secretary of Defense nominee has been effectively stalled and Republicans are determined to keep it that way, Sen. James M. ???Jim??? Inhofe (Okla.) told Human Events.
???My number one commitment right now is to make sure he does not get confirmed,??? the Senate Armed Services Committee (SASC) minority ranking member said of Charles T. ???Chuck??? Hagel, President Barack Obama???s pick for the position.
Inhofe warned committee Chairman Carl M. Levin (D-Mich.) about getting into an awkward position if he tried to push the nomination out of committee, he said.
???And he didn???t do it, to his credit. So that has kind of been stalled,??? he said.
When the room cleared at the end of the confirmation hearing Jan. 31, Levin said a committee-level vote would take place at the earliest within a week. Instead, today the SASC heard the testimony of outgoing Secretary of Defense Leon E. Panetta with regard to the attacks on the American consulate and Central Intelligence Agency annex in Benghazi, Libya on Sept. 11, 2012.
???The one thing I can???t say at this time because it would be counterproductive to our mission is that we???ll filibuster,??? Inhofe said. ???I don???t want to say ???filibuster.??????
But it???s certainly very, very common to require a 60-vote margin on a Cabinet nomination, he said.
