Hagel Confirmation Vote Scheduled for 4:30 pm ET Today
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) has scheduled a vote on the nomination of Chuck Hagel to be Secretary of Defense (SecDef) at 4:30 pm ET today. The nomination cleared a procedural hurdle earlier in the day.
By a vote of 71-27, the Senate voted to end debate on the nomination, stopping a filibuster advocated by some Republicans who are strongly opposed to the former Republican Senator becoming SecDef. Sixty votes were needed to end the filibuster. Those Republicans did prevent a vote on the nomination two weeks ago, but today enough of them joined with almost all Democrats (two did not vote) to let the nomination proceed to an up-or-down vote this afternoon.
Some of the Republicans who agreed to end debate have made clear they will vote against the nomination itself, but Hagel will need only 51 votes to win confirmation. Since there are 53 Democrats and two Independents who usually vote with Democrats, he is expected to be confirmed.
Live coverage of the Senate’s proceedings is available on the Senate’s own website as well as via C-SPAN.
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