Free Republic

It’s official. Former Nebraska Senator Chuck Hagel is our new Secretary of Defense. What challenges does he face as he takes over the Defense Department? Here's the truth: a broken Pentagon is in desperate need of an overhaul. Let’s start with the draconian budget reductions facing DoD as the “sequester” looms. If the sequester happens this week it will, for better or worse, have a direct impact on a full spectrum of Pentagon operations. For starters, the sequester will cut about $1 trillion dollars out of the Pentagon budget. That money will disappear without any considerations regarding either national security...

WASHINGTON -- Sen. Mike Johanns called out his fellow Senate Republicans on Thursday for claiming that they aren't technically filibustering as they try to hold up Chuck Hagel's nomination to be defense secretary. "It's a filibuster," Johanns said. "If the Democrats were doing this, we would be hollering that this was a filibuster and probably did in the past." A number of Republicans are pushing to delay consideration of Hagel, the former GOP senator from Nebraska, requiring a 60-vote threshold on a procedural vote that Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., scheduled for Friday.