The vice chairman forged the tie-breaking vote after McConnell voted no to Pete Hegseth’s affirmation as the brand new secretary of protection.
The Senate confirmed Pete Hegseth as the brand new secretary of protection in a late-night session on Jan. 24 that got here all the way down to a tie-breaking resolution from Vice President JD Vance after Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) voted no.
President Donald Trump’s nominee initially deadlocked in a 50-50 vote, capping off a contentious affirmation course of by which Hegseth confronted questions on his views on ladies serving in fight, in addition to allegations of alcoholism, sexual assault, and monetary mismanagement at two veteran nonprofit organizations.
It was solely the second such tie-breaking vote within the historical past of cupboard secretary confirmations, after Betsy DeVos’s affirmation for secretary of training at the beginning of the primary Trump administration.
Sens. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) and Susan Collins (R-Maine) broke ranks with their fellow Republicans to oppose Hegseth’s affirmation. That they had signaled their opposition forward of the listening to late on Jan. 24.
McConnell issued a press release after his vote explaining why he opposed the nomination.
“Probably the most consequential cupboard official in any Administration is the Secretary of Protection. Within the face of the gravest threats to U.S. nationwide safety pursuits since World Warfare II, this place is much more necessary right this moment,” the Kentucky Republican wrote.
McConnell stated the USA faces threats from a number of adversaries, together with Russia, China, North Korea and Iran.
“In public feedback and testimony earlier than the Armed Companies Committee, Mr. Hegseth didn’t reckon with this actuality,” he wrote.
Trump celebrated Hegseth’s affirmation, telling reporters in Los Angeles, “We’re very completely satisfied about that, we recognize everybody’s vote.”
When requested for a response to McConnell’s no vote, Trump replied that he didn’t know in regards to the improvement.
“I simply heard that we received. Profitable is what issues, proper?” he stated.
Within the minutes earlier than the vote, Sen. Jack Reed (D-R.I.) urged his colleagues to vote towards the nomination, whereas Sen. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) made the other case, noting that Hegseth had grappled with post-traumatic stress dysfunction (PTSD).
Hegseth, 44, served within the Nationwide Guard from 2002 to 2021. He served as an infantry officer and noticed fight deployments in Iraq and Afghanistan earlier than retiring from service on the rank of main.
All through the affirmation course of, Hegseth has stated his focus might be on increasing the warrior ethos of the U.S. navy.
“[Trump], like me, desires a Pentagon laser-focused on lethality, meritocracy, warfighting, accountability, and readiness,” Hegseth stated in his opening remarks at his Jan. 14 affirmation listening to.
Hegseth has additionally stated he seeks to scale back the navy’s concentrate on contentious political debates, which he feels detract from time spent on coaching in sensible warfighting expertise.
Whereas Hegseth has stated he desires the navy to stay “patriotically apolitical and stridently constitutional,” a few of his detractors have raised issues that he would go after his perceived political enemies. Some senators, together with Murkowski, had additionally raised issues that ladies within the navy won’t have Hegseth’s full help.
Hegseth has provided combined feedback about ladies serving in fight roles. In a November interview on the “Shawn Ryan Present,” Hegseth stated, “I’m straight up simply saying we must always not have ladies in fight roles.”
At different factors, he has stated he’s involved about navy leaders decreasing requirements simply to get ladies to fill extra fight roles, together with infantry, artillery, and particular operations positions.
Robert Salesses has served because the appearing secretary of protection whereas Hegseth’s nomination has wound its means via the Senate.