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United States News Title: McCain: Don't filibuster Hagel Sen. John McCain appears to have cleared the way Monday for Chuck Hagel to be the next secretary of defense. The Arizona Republican, who has been a prominent voice in the debate over Hagel, said Monday he would oppose any attempt to filibuster the nomination, likely dooming any attempt by Senate conservatives to sustain a protracted procedural fight to delay Hagel’s confirmation. “I do not believe that we should filibuster,” McCain told POLITICO. “To vote against is entirely the judgment of each individual senator, but a filibuster I think would be inappropriate.” Asked if he would vote for cloture if a filibuster were mounted, McCain answered, “Yes.” The White House and Democratic leadership are already confident that a solid majority exists for the Hagel to be confirmed on a simple majority vote. McCain’s opposition to a filibuster should make it easier to get the 60 votes needed to invoke cloture. Republican Sens. Mike Johanns of Nebraska and Thad Cochran of Mississippi have already announced they would support Hagel, meaning that Democrats appear to have at least 57 senators ready to support his nomination if they can keep their caucus united. Indeed, there appears to be a real reservoir of concern in the GOP about filibustering against a Cabinet nomination. In interviews Monday, several senators expressed concern with such tactics, and McCain’s statement could embolden more to speak out. Sen. Pat Roberts (R-Kan.) has said he will oppose Hagel but doesn’t want to raise the ante. “I don’t want to filibuster. We don’t want to go that way,” he said. “It is a choice that could lead to a lot more problems.” Sens. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) and Susan Collins (R-Maine) also expressed reservations about any filibuster but were not ready to commit to a cloture vote. “In general I am very reluctant to filibuster Cabinet nominees,” Collins said. “It would be a high standard that would have to be met before I would think that a filibuster of a cabinet nominee were appropriate.” Senate GOP leaders haven’t said publicly whether they would back off the filibuster talk. Minority Leader Mitch McConnell told reporters over the weekend in Louisville, Ky., that the opposition to Hagel is “intensifying” but it was “not clear” whether the GOP would demand 60 votes for his confirmation. And Texas Sen. John Cornyn, the minority whip who is strongly opposed to the nomination, wouldn’t say Monday whether his party would attempt a filibuster on the floor. “It’s really premature,” Cornyn told POLITICO. “I think we’ll wait and see what happens in committee.” The Senate Armed Services Committee could vote on the nomination as early as Thursday, with floor action possible next week. Several Republicans, including McCain, remained highly critical of the testimony last week by Hagel, a former Nebraska senator and Vietnam veteran. McCain and Hagel were close allies during their early years together in the Senate. “I expect answers from people,” McCain said, still upset with Hagel’s responses related to the Iraq war. “To say that history will judge is not an appropriate answer and his answers on Iran were just confusing.” Collins panned Hagel’s performance as well, but said the nominee redeemed himself in a private meeting. “I was surprised and disappointed at his answers in some areas, so I don’t think the hearing helped him,” Collins told POLITICO. “I did have a good 90-minute meeting with him on some of the same issues and a far broader range of issues.” Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.), the ranking member on the Foreign Relations Committee, said he was still reading the transcripts. Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), said he thought the committee vote this week was too soon to fully judge Hagel’s record. “I’d like to find out some of the speeches he gave,” Graham told reporters in the Capitol. Told that McCain had come out against the use of the filibuster in Hagel’s confirmation process, Graham responded that he had not yet made up his mind in the same way. “I’m not there yet,” he said, but adding, “Filibustering is something I do very reluctantly… I hope the president and his team will reevaluate this nomination.” As for McCain, there appears to be a side of the 2008 GOP presidential nominee that wants to move on past the nomination fight and address more the fiscal and management challenges facing the Pentagon. McCain delivered a floor speech Monday entitled the “The Culture of Inefficiency” in the department and pointedly said if Hagel were confirmed, his setting the right tone “from the top will be vitally important.” Those remarks echoed an exchange last week in a hallway interview. McCain was describing then a new willingness among conservatives to cut defense spending, part of which he attributed to a strain of isolationism in the GOP but part, he said represented “a backlash against waste and mismanagement.” Asked by POLITICO if he could help Hagel address these problems if confirmed, McCain smiled and said: “Maybe. Maybe. Maybe.” Darren Goode and Tim Mak contributed to this report.
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