Policy & Strategy

The Topline: The Senate is set to hold a vote on former Sen. Chuck Hagel's (R-Neb.) confirmation on Friday after Republicans said they would not end debate Wednesday.

The move sets up the first-ever filibuster of a Defense secretary nominee, according to Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.).

“This is first time in the history of our country that a presidential nominee for secretary of Defense has been filibustered,” Reid said on the floor Wednesday. “What a shame.”

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Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) filed a cloture motion on the nomination of former Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-Neb.) to be the next Secretary of Defense.

Reid said he was forced to file the motion Wednesday because Sen. James Inhofe (R-Okla.) and other Republicans “are not willing to consider” Hagel’s nomination. This means Democrats will need 60 votes to advance President Obama's nomination.

Republican Reps. Forbes and Bishop slammed the Pentagon for its refusal to plan for the massive, across-the-board cuts.

Sen. Cornyn defended requests for additional financial documents from the Defense nominee as "reasonable" and "legitimate."

Senior Republicans in the Senate dismissed that plan as unrealistic.

President Obama will press Middle East nations to usher in democracy when he visits Israel, Jordan and the West Bank next month.

President Obama endorsed the Pentagon’s recent policy change allowing women to serve in combat in his State of the Union address.

“We will draw upon the courage and skills of our sisters and daughters and moms, because women have proven under fire that they are ready for combat,” Obama said in a section of the speech talking about veterans.

The president also said Tuesday that he supported the recent expansion of some benefits for military spouses in same-sex relationships, saying that his administration “will ensure equal treatment for all service members, and equal benefits for their families – gay and straight.”

He told lawmakers that America must show leadership in order to isolate nuclear rogue states like North Korea and Iran.

President Barack Obama announced he would be slashing in half the total number of American troops in Afghanistan, down to just over 30,000, as part of the White House's efforts to end the over decade-long war by 2014. 

President Obama defended his administration’s counterterrorism operations Tuesday, which have come under fire from liberal Democrats in recent weeks.

Obama did not use the word “drone” in his State of the Union address, but he said that the administration has created a “durable legal and policy framework” for counterterrorism operations, a reference to the recent disclosure of the administration’s “white paper” justifying the killing of American citizens with drone strikes if they are al Qaeda leaders.

“As we do, we must enlist our values in the fight,” Obama said. “That is why my administration has worked tirelessly to forge a durable legal and policy framework to guide our counterterrorism efforts.”