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(Daily Beast) – Ted Cruz appears to be spearheading the opposition: the Washington Post’s neoconservative blogger Jennifer Rubin wrote that the Texas Republican “circulated” the latest combative letter to Hagel. Senate Republicans asked Hagel for information he’s not in a position to release, to them or anyone else, including financial information about private companies he was affiliated with but does not control. After initially asking for the information–in addition the extensive disclosures already made as part of the confirmation process–in a letter dated Jan. 29, Hagel responded with what information he could in a Feb. 5 letter.
He wrote to the Republicans that some of the requested materials were not in his possession and, furthermore, that he couldn’t release much of it even if it was. That’s because the Republicans’ requests go far beyond the scope of Hagel’s personal finances and records, varying between asking him for materials that don’t exist or that would violate legal agreements to release. Today, 25 Senate Republicans responded to Hagel reiterating their asks.
Senate Dem: GOP Request to Hagel Extraordinary
(Business Week/AP) – The chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee said Friday he will press ahead with a vote on Chuck Hagel’s nomination to be defense secretary, rejecting Republicans demands for more financial information from President Barack Obama’s choice as setting an unprecedented new standard.
In a letter, Sen. Carl Levin provided a point-by-point rebuttal to the GOP requests for data on Hagel’s paid speeches and foreign donors to private entities he’s been affiliated with, arguing that the requirements exceed the committee’s rules and what has been asked of previous defense secretaries, Republican and Democrat.
“The committee cannot have two different sets of financial disclosure standards for nominees, one for Sen. Hagel and one for other nominees,” the Michigan Democrat wrote. His letter was in response to a Feb. 6 letter from 26 Senate Republicans to Hagel insisting that they needed more information before they could vote on his nomination.
In a nearly three-decade span, the committee has confirmed defense secretaries and other senior civilian nominees at the Pentagon with far more lucrative and extensive financial holdings than Hagel, including Republicans Frank Carlucci and Dick Cheney.
Vets groups’ praise for Hagel adds pressure on GOP
WASHINGTON (AP) — Countering the Republican-led opposition to President Barack Obama’s nominee for defense secretary is a less flashy but powerful constituency: military veterans. Veterans’ organizations have praised Chuck Hagel, a twice-wounded combat veteran of Vietnam and deputy administrator in President Ronald Reagan’s Veterans Administration.
The Veterans of Foreign Wars has called him uniquely qualified to become Pentagon chief. The Military Officers Association of America said his experience gives him “a range of perspectives.” The American Legion said he was a longtime advocate for veterans.
There are about 22 million veterans nationwide, and they hold considerable sway with Congress. While veterans are hardly in lockstep when it comes to a Democratic president’s Cabinet choice, Hagel’s personal story resonates with those who have served, says former Sen. Max Cleland, D-Ga., a triple amputee from the Vietnam War.
“He grew up in the heartland of America, goes to war, war of his generation,” Cleland said in an interview. “He volunteers to walk point … because he wants to do it on behalf of his comrades. He gets wounded twice. He still carries some of that shrapnel in his chest, and vows the second time he’s wounded that if he’s ever in a position to help out the grunts, the average serviceman, the combat soldier that he had served with, he will.”
VoteVets, a left-leaning veterans group, has campaigned for Hagel through social media, old-fashioned letters to editors and 18,000 emails from some 9,000 people to all the members of the Senate.
Veterans are a significant part of the population in the home states of Republican senators.
Hagel help pass an contemporary GI bill, “he was right about Iraq, he was right about Afghanistan,” said Jon Soltz, who served two Army tours in Iraq and is the chairman of VoteVets. “When you look at veterans’ issues and these types of things, he’s been excellent to us and he’s one of us. He’s been there. Ted Cruz hasn’t been there.”
Thousands Of Vets And Military Families Sign Petition Rejecting ‘Neocon Smears’ Against Hagel
