During Sunday’s broadcast of Fox News Channel’s “America’s News HQ,” Oklahoma Republican Sen. James Inhofe threatened to use the filibuster to derail the confirmation of former Nebraska Sen. Chuck Hagel as secretary of defense.
According to Inhofe, Hagel is unfit to take the top defense post, in part because of remarks he has made about the United States.
“Does it occur to you — are you at all concerned that the Ministry of Iran is endorsing his candidacy? … The Al-Jazeera interview where he agreed that America is the world’s bully. He agreed that Israel is guilty of committing war crimes. You know, this is the type of thing that you can’t accept. I know he is popular, and I know that he is going to do his best. I will do my best to see that he is not the secretary of defense.”
“I would threaten to cause a 60-vote margin, yes I would,” Inhofe added. “If it took a filibuster, I’d do it that way.”
The senator added that the filibuster would not be unprecedented, particularly for high-level appointments, even though other Republicans have been reluctant to use the measure to stall Hagel’s appointment.
“In the last nine years we is done it nine times. And some of them have been confirmed, some have is not. I don’t see anything wrong with requiring a 60-vote margin for either one of the two most significant jobs or appointments that a president has. Frankly, I don’t trust this president to make the right appointments. I don’t think that Hagel is the right appointment.”