Senate GOP shuts down hearings
Democratic senators ripped their Republican counterparts for forcing cancellations of hearings throughout the Senate on Wednesday, claiming that the GOP is needlessly blocking essential national security business.
Armed Services Chairman Carl Levin (D-Mich.) and Sen. Claire McCaskill both complained that Republicans kept them from holding their hearings on budget requests for the military's Pacific and strategic and police training contracts in Afghanistan.
Either party in the Senate is allowed to object to holding hearings, as Senate rules require a unanimous consent request for hearings to be held after 2 p.m. Most of these unanimous consent requests aren’t even noticed on any given day, but Republicans have been objecting to these requests, essentially shutting down committee work.
"It is astounding to me that the Republicans have decided to take this course of action. There's no point to it. It does not accomplish their goals of stopping health care reform. All it can do is stop us from carrying out our duties to provide for the security of our country," Levin said.
Generals from U.S. Pacific Command, Strategic Command and U.S. Forces Korea posted overseas flew to Washington for their annual update to the Armed Services committee, and Levin said his staff is working to reschedule a hearing for Friday but that it is unclear whether the generals will be able to stay that long.
Levin said he approached Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) Tuesday night at a meeting with senators and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, alerting him of the importance of the hearing and asking for assistance in ensuring the committee could meet. "He told me he'd look into it," Levin said.
McCaskill, who chairs the Subcommittee on Contracting Oversight, stepped up the criticism of the McConnell, saying that although he might not be the senator blocking the committee hearings, it's well within his purview to stop it.
"If he's a strong enough leader to keep all of his members in the corral on some of the things he's kept them in the corral on in the past few months—surely, he's a strong enough leader to say we're not going to stop hearings on police training contracts in Afghanistan and commanders who travel halfway across the world to testify on behalf our United States military," McCaskill said of McConnell.
McCaskill went on to say that the rule that allows members to block committee proceedings is "dumb" and "antiquated" and that although the "buck stops with the Republican leader... at a minimum, they owe the American people an answer as to who is responsible."
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