Senate approves Hagel to lead Defense Department

Tom Vanden Brook, USA TODAY | USATODAY

WASHINGTON — The Senate voted 58-41 Tuesday to confirm Chuck Hagel as the new Defense secretary to succeed Leon Panetta, thus ending a contentious battle over his nomination.

Senators voted 71-27 earlier Tuesday afternoon to end debate on President Obama's nomination of Hagel, a Republican former senator from Nebraska.

He will be sworn in Wednesday morning.

"I will be counting on Chuck's judgment and counsel as we end the war in Afghanistan, bring our troops home, stay ready to meet the threats of our time and keep our military the finest fighting force in the world," Obama said in a statement.

Hagel immediately inherits a budget crisis. Last week, the Pentagon announced it plans to furlough the majority of its 800,000 civilian employees to help meet a $46 billion shortfall caused by automatic spending cuts that begin March 1 and its stopgap budget that prevents shifting funds to urgent needs.

"I will work closely with Congress to ensure that we maintain the strongest military in the world and continue to protect this great nation," Hagel said in a statement.

Hagel faced opposition from Republicans. He cleared the Senate Armed Services Committee on a 14-11 party-line vote Feb. 12. On Feb. 14, Republicans blocked a final vote on the nomination. His nomination sat idle last week with the Senate in recess. Of his major critics, Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., signaled that he would no longer oppose a vote on Hagel's nomination, setting the stage for Tuesday's vote.

Three of Hagel's chief antagonists during the confirmation hearings — Republican Sens. McCain, Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and Ted Cruz of Texas — all voted no.

"There were other, more capable choices available, and I regret President Obama did not choose one of them," Graham said in a statement. "Having said this, I do believe it is the president's prerogative to pick his Cabinet, and I will work with Senator Hagel to ensure our defense at home and security around the globe is not diminished."

McCain voted to end debate but against Hagel's confirmation.

Four other Republicans -- Richard Shelby of Alabama, Mike Johanns of Nebraska, Rand Paul of Kentucky and Thad Cochran of Mississippi -- voted for Hagel.

In his Senate tenure, Hagel was close to both McCain and Graham. All three voted to approve military action in Iraq. As the war continued, Hagel began to criticize the Bush administration's handling of the conflict. His criticism of the surge of troops in 2007 that helped bring down violence there angered McCain, who blasted Hagel for it at his confirmation hearing.

During the confirmation fight, the top Republican of the Senate Armed Services Committee, James Inhofe of Oklahoma, opposed Hagel and questioned his toughness on Iran and its nuclear ambitions. Graham said comments Hagel has made show a lack of commitment to Israel. Cruz raised questions about the propriety of Hagel's income, suggesting he might have received funds from North Korea.

Hagel has maintained, in answers to the Senate, that he has received no money from such nations.

Some of the criticism of Hagel was out of bounds, said Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., a member of the Armed Services Committee.

"We should ask ourselves how the traditionally tough, but fair, confirmation process devolved to the point where a war hero and former colleague was accused of having secret ties with our enemies," McCaskill said in a statement after the vote. "I sincerely hope that the practice of challenging nominations with innuendo and inference, rather than facts and figures, was an aberration and not a roadmap."

Sen. Carl Levin, a Michigan Democrat and Armed Services chairman, said Hagel supplied the committee with the information it needed to approve his nomination.

Hagel, 66, was born in North Platte, Neb. In 1968, Hagel and his brother Tom were both wounded in combat in Vietnam. Chuck Hagel rescued his brother and was awarded two Purple Heart medals.

Hagel served two terms in the Senate from 1997 to 2009.