Levin says he's moving forward.
Just provided enough accommodation for the Repukes to illustrate yet once again just what lunatics they are ...
Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Carl Levin (D-Mich.) said the demands for information Republicans are making of former Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-Neb.) were unprecedented for a Defense nominee.
Levin said Thursday that a committee vote on Hagel would proceed “as soon as possible,” and that the request for financial information from groups Hagel is affiliated with would not slow the process.
The requests are “things no prior candidate has ever been asked for, way beyond what the rules of the committee are,” Levin told reporters. “He has provided all of the financial information that was required.”
Twenty-five Republicans, including Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), sent Hagel a letter Tuesday saying they were opposed to a vote on his confirmation as Defense secretary until he provided additional financial information.
The Republicans want to know whether the organizations with which Hagel is affiliated, such as the Atlantic Council, received foreign funding over the past decade.
Levin said he would respond to Republican senators with a letter of his own in the next few days before planning a vote.
“When we have responded to the letter we are then going to take it from there, and have a vote as soon as possible,” Levin said. “I’m first going to respond to the letter, lay out the rules of the committee, what we’ve required of nominees and how far beyond — way beyond — what’s been required of nominees [this is].
“We’re going to continue to apply standards that this committee has used over decades,” Levin said.
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) said that without the information from Hagel, he would have “a hard time” proceeding forward with the confirmation.
“Sen. Levin can say that some of this is out of bounds, and he may be right, some of this may be unprecedented. But this is a sort of an unprecedented nominee,” Graham said.
Asked why this information was being asked of Hagel and not prior nominees, Graham said: “I don’t think we’ve had previous nominees with this sort of, kind of, hostile attitude toward a friend like Israel.
“I think what we’re all looking for is, did Sen. Hagel get on the speaking circuit to [speak to] anti-Israeli groups?” Graham said. “What kind of things did he say about Israel and other potential allies?”
http://thehill.com/blogs/defcon-hill/policy-and-strategy/281759-levin-gop-demands-of-hagel-unprecedented#ixzz2KFRlkQEn
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