The Senate Armed Services Committee voted 14-11 Tuesday to approve former Sen. Chuck Hagel’s nomination as Defense secretary after a lengthy meeting that featured sharp exchanges about compensation the nominee has received for speaking engagements.
The party-line vote sends Hagel’s (R-Neb.) nomination to the floor for a vote by the entire Senate this week.
The vote took place after nearly two hours of debate in which some committee Republicans argued Chairman Carl Levin (D-Mich.) should delay the panel vote to look into allegations that Hagel received compensation from "radical and extreme groups."
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) said Hagel had failed to disclose funding sources that he has received, and that the committee had no way to know “if he received compensation for giving paid speeches at extreme or radical groups.”
Cruz also said that if Hagel is confirmed, he believed “it will make military conflict in the next four years substantially more likely.”
Read more on The Hill's DEFCON blog.
