The Daily Background
| Senate cutting it close with new SecDef nomination
by Arlen Parsa
The Senate is expected to begin the confirmation process for President Bush’s nominee for Secretary of Defense (Robert Gates) around the week of December 4th, according to published reports.
If so, the Senate is cutting it a little bit close, as many members tend to leave early for December vacation. This is traditionally the period where the least gets done in Congress, being right after elections, and right before the holiday season.
Gates will be replacing SecDef Donald Rumsfeld, whose resignation was announced the day after the Democrats stormed Congress in the November 7th midterm elections.
The Gates nomination is not the only nomination President Bush is hoping to push through the Senate before Democrats take control in January. John Bolton, the recess-appointed Ambassador to the United Nations (whose recess-appointment will expire in January) is awaiting confirmation hearings a well.
Bolton’s nomination however is effectively dead in the water, while Gates is expected to be nominated without too much fuss (despite lingering questions over his involvement with the Iran-Contra scandal).
Insiders attribute his high chances at being confirmed to the fact that many members of Congress are either fed up with Rumsfeld and just want to replace him with practically anybody ASAP, or are expected to be fed up with him for political reasons.
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