Chuck Hagel, filibuster bait.
The Republicans on the Senate Armed Services Committee are so angry that the Committee is doing one of the things that it's supposed to do, have a vote on the Defense Secretary nomination, they're
going to throw a tantrum.
The Senate Armed Services Committee plans to vote Tuesday on Chuck Hagel’s nomination to be the next secretary of Defense, but Republican aides suggest that some GOP members could walk out in protest.
Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Carl Levin (D-Mich.) has scheduled the vote after committee members have discussed the nomination during a committee meeting set for 2:30 p.m., after a previously scheduled morning session on sequestration. [...]
“There are two options: If Hagel doesn’t fully disclose all the things in the letter [in which Republicans made requests for more disclosure] … either you will see a party line vote or Republicans will stand up and leave the room in protest,” said a senior Republican Senate aide. “Does Levin really want that to happen on his watch as chairman? … It would really debilitate the committee.”
The Republicans, as usual, are threatening to blow the process to smithereens, but if the committee is "debilitated" as a result, it's all Levin's fault for trying to make the committee do it's job. Perfect.
This is just more evidence that no gentlemen's agreement, no vote on incremental, meaningless Senate rules reform, is going to change what the GOP is and what it does. The Senate still needs real reform.
Please sign our petition urging Harry Reid to re-open the process of filibuster reform in the Senate.
10:36 AM PT: Now, apparently, Republicans are walking that threat back.
Further questioning revealed no stomach for the GOP to walk out after all. Staffers reached in the office of Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) hadn’t heard of the bid to walkout and were unable to confirm whether the Senator backed the proposal. However, a staffer in the office of Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) — by no means a supporter of Hagel’s nomination bid — confirmed to ThinkProgress that there are no longer any Republicans who plan on walking out during tomorrow’s meeting.