The unanimous Senate continued the chamber’s record of successfully passing a Pentagon budget bill uninterrupted for the last 51 years, Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Carl Levin Carl Milton LevinMichigan to pay 0M to victims of Flint water crisis Unintended consequences of killing the filibuster Inspector general independence must be a bipartisan priority in 2020 MORE (D-Mich.) said after passage.

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At the time, many defense legislators had hoped a final defense bill would reach the White House last week.

However, the process hit a snag in the lower chamber when House members postponed a key vote to move the defense bill to conference.

The delay, due to parliamentary issues surrounding provisions in the Senate’s bill that could be considered “revenue originators,” pushed congressional approval of the compromise bill into this week.

While the legislation is expected to wrap up this week, lawmakers on both sides of the aisle remain at loggerheads in the ongoing debate in Congress on how to avoid sequestration and the so-called "fiscal cliff."

Both sides have made progress, most recently with President Obama meeting with House Speaker John Boehner John Andrew BoehnerLongtime House parliamentarian to step down Five things we learned from this year's primaries Bad blood between Pelosi, Meadows complicates coronavirus talks MORE (R-Ohio) last Thursday on Capitol Hill. While both men remained mum on what was discussed during their powwow, each side agreed that time was quickly running out to find a bipartisan solution.

Democrats remain fixed on their calls for tax increases on Americans in the top tax brackets as a way to avert the $1.2 billion in automatic budget cuts set for January, under the White House's sequestration plan. Nearly half of those cuts will be taken out of defense coffers.

However, Republicans are adamant that any tax increases must be paired up with deep cuts in spending for various social welfare and entitlement programs.

For their part, top defense industry executives last week pressed GOP lawmakers to strongly consider tax increases in order to spare the cuts to the Pentagon budget reductions, which they argue would devastate the U.S. defense sector.

"We may not get a grand bargain in the next 28 days," Northrop Grumman CEO Wes Bush said, but added that there was "no reason" the White House and Congress could not come together and draft the framework to stop sequestration.

While Congress continues to wrangle over a sequestration solution, the White House is reportedly near a decision on their pick to lead the Pentagon.

A formal announcement naming former Nebraska Republican Sen. Chuck Hagel Charles (Chuck) Timothy HagelWhile our foes deploy hypersonic weapons, Washington debates about funding Hillicon Valley: Democrats request counterintelligence briefing | New pressure for election funding | Republicans urge retaliation against Chinese hackers National security leaders, advocacy groups urge Congress to send election funds to states MORE as the administration's pick to replace soon-to-be outgoing Defense Secretary Leon Panetta could arrive as soon as next week.

Hagel, who currently serves as the president of the Atlantic Council, has undergone the White House's vetting process for the top job at the Department of Defense and is awaiting President Obama's final approval for the Pentagon nomination, Bloomberg reported last Thursday.

Hagel was brought to the White House on Dec. 4 to discuss the possibility of taking Panetta's post after the Pentagon chief announced earlier this year that he would likely be leaving the department.

Hagel, former DOD policy chief Michele Flournoy and current Deputy Defense Secretary Ashton Carter were the top three finalists to be Panetta's successor at DOD. He was also rumored to be at the top on Sen. John McCain John Sidney McCainAmerica's presence in Cam Ranh Bay should be more than occasional Meghan McCain, husband welcome first baby girl, Liberty Sage McCain Domenech The Hill's Morning Report - Sponsored by JobsOhio - Showdown: Trump-Biden debate likely to be nasty MORE's (R-Ariz) list of defense chiefs during his failed presidential bid in 2008.