Republicans threaten to delay Hagel's confirmation vote over Benghazi demands

By Leslie Larson

PUBLISHED: 10:22 EST, 14 February 2013 | UPDATED: 10:23 EST, 14 February 2013

Senate Republicans are threatening to filibuster the confirmation vote on former Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-NE) as Secretary of Defense.

Though Hagel was approved on Tuesday as a suitable nominee by the Senate Armed Services Committee, GOP Senators will try to delay the confirmation vote set for Friday.

Conservatives cite their longstanding objections to their former colleague's policy views on Israel and Iran. Republicans also hope their threats to foil the confirmation process could force President Obama's to answer their questions about his administration's handling of Benghazi.

Weary: Though he is a Republican, Chuck Hagel took a beating in Senate Armed Services Committee hearings for his views that the U.S. should engage in direct talks with Iran and Israel

Hagel, a former two term Republican Senator, was nominated by President Obama on Jan. 7 to replace current Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta.

Though once a member of their ranks, Republicans in the Senate have fiercely criticized the Nebraska native for his views that the U.S. should engage in direct talks with Iran and Hamas.

He was also forced to apologize for his statement in a 2006 interview in which he said, 'The Jewish lobby intimidates a lot of people up here…. I’m not an Israeli senator. I’m a United States senator.'

Additionally, Republicans have expressed deep conces about Hagel's eaings once he retired from the Senate in 2008 and moved into the private sector. They have asked for details of his compensation as a consultant and his time on the lecture circuit, to prove that he didn't take money from countries hostile to America.

Tough crowd: The Senate confirmation hearing to review Obama's nomination of Chuck Hagel kicked off on Jan. 31 and was met with opposition from Republicans

The Senate Armed Services Committee hearings on Hagel's nomination kicked off on January 31, starting an ugly, partisan back and forth.

Despite opposition from conservatives, the committee approved Hagel as their nominee on February 12.

Now the decision goes to the Senate floor for a vote. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) is moving toward holding a full Senate vote on Hagel on Friday.

Sen. Reid filed a motion on Wednesday to limit debate and force a vote by the end of the week but Republicans are saying, 'Not so fast.'

Though Republicans are in the minority in the upper chamber, 45 to 55 Democratic members, they are aggressively working to form a 60-vote margin that would filibuster the vote.

Though this maneuver is a filibuster by definition, Republicans are avoiding the label.

'We're going to require a 60-vote threshold,' Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.), the ranking member of the Armed Services Committee, told Foreign Policy blog, The Cable.

'It's not a filibuster. I don't want to use that word,' he said. 

Sen. Inhofe (R-Okla.) also told the National Review this week that he would work to foil Mr Obama's plans.

'It's going to be a long, long time before he hits the floor,' he said about trying to delay a Senate vote on Hagel.

'The anti-Israel history of Chuck Hagel is real. We can’t have someone at the Pentagon who has made these kind of statements,' Sen. Inhofe added. 

Several others in the party are also said to have joined Sen. Inhofe's cause.

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), also a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said earlier in February that Mr Obama should reconsider Hagel's nomination.

The South Carolinian is among the Republicans who would vote against ending debate on Hagel's nomination, according to the Associated Press.

He has joined with fellow committee members Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Kelly Ayotte (R-NH) to call on Mr Obama to clarify his administration's precise actions in the hours leading up to the September 11 attack on the U.S. Mission in Benghazi.

Outta here: Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, on Feb. 13, left the CIA to head up the DOD in July 2011

'The debate on Chuck Hagel is not over,' Sen. Graham said.

'It has not been serious. We don't have the information we need. And I'm going to fight the idea of jamming somebody through until we get answers about what the president did personally when it came to the Benghazi debacle.'

Former presidential candidate and committee member Sen. McCain was among Hagel's critics during the hearings and grilled the former Congressman.

This week he slammed Hagel for his 'disappointing' performance answering questions, adding 'his often adversarial attitude toward legitimate questions from Committee members was troubling.'

Committee chair, Sen. Carl Levin (D-Mich.) has expressed his confidence in the Obama administration's desire to be forthcoming on the Benghazi attack. 

Other Democrats have praised Hagel for his military service during the Vietnam War, for which he eaed two purple hearts, and his Congressional career.