US Senate confirms Hagel as Defense Secretary

Rappler.com

This is AI generated summarization, which may have errors. For context, always refer to the full article.

MR SECRETARY. US Senator Chuck Hagel, Republican of Nebraska, visits Amman in this July 22 2008, file photo. AFP Photo/Paul J. Richards/FILES
The United States Senate confirmed Chuck Hagel as Secretary of Defense Tuesday, ending a long and acrimonious nomination process and handing President Barack Obama a boost as he fills his second-term cabinet. After a bruising confirmation hearing and a 10-day delay engineered by Republicans, Senators voted 58-41 to approve the former Republican senator and decorated Vietnam War veteran for the post held by Leon Panetta. Hagel, 66, who had faced tough questions about his past statements on Iran’s nuclear program and US-Israeli relations, is due to be sworn in on Wednesday. Obama welcomed the “bipartisan confirmation,” saying it allowed him to “have the defense secretary our nation needs and the leader our troops deserve.”


Read more on Rappler

Add a comment

Sort by

There are no comments yet. Add your comment to start the conversation.

Summarize this article with AI

How does this make you feel?

Loading
Download the Rappler App!