Chuck Hagel cleared a 60-vote procedural hurdle to confirmation, setting up a final vote on his nomination as Defense secretary later today, Roll Call reports.

The Senate voted 71-27 in favor of invoking cloture on the nomination with 18 Republicans voting in favor of the motion.

Roll Call: “The Senate is expected this week to confirm Chuck Hagel to be the
next Pentagon chief, but the weeks-long partisan battle over the former
Republican senator from Nebraska has provided a taste of some of the
biggest national security fights that lay ahead.”

Former White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said that he was ordered to never acknowledge the existence of the drone program, the Washington Examiner reports.

Said Gibbs: “One of the first things they told me was, you are not even to acknowledge the drone program, you are not even to discuss that it exists.”

A reporter explains in New York Daily News how he inadvertently created the myth that Chuck Hagel spoke to a non-existent group called “Friends of Hamas.”

“I am, it seems, the creator of the Friends of Hamas myth. Doing my job, I erred in counting on confidentiality and the understanding that my example was farcical — and by assuming no one would print an unchecked rumor. If anyone didn’t know already: Partisan agendas, Internet reporting and old-fashioned carelessness can move complete crocks fast. If you see a story on Hagel addressing the Junior League of Hezbollah, that’s fake too.”

“I don’t believe he is qualified, but I don’t believe that we should hold up his nomination any further.”

— Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), quoted by Roll Call, on Chuck Hagel’s nomination to be Defense secretary.

Sen. John McCain told NBC News that Chuck Hagel will likely be confirmed next week as Defense secretary.

“After Senate Republicans voted to sustain a filibuster and block the former Nebraska senator’s nomination from advancing toward confirmation, McCain acknowledged that Hagel will likely win confirmation once the chamber returns from its recess.”

Byron York: “Members of the Senate have left Washington for the President’s Day break, scheduled to return February 25. That means Republicans who voted to filibuster the nomination of Chuck Hagel to be Defense Secretary have ten days to search for new evidence against him and lobby colleagues to keep up the opposition.”

“With 41 votes needed to uphold a filibuster — exactly the number Republicans mustered against Hagel on Thursday — the GOP has no votes to lose. And the most critical of those votes appears to belong to Sen. John McCain.”

Politico reports that Republicans have blocked Chuck Hagel’s nomination to be secretary of Defense, voting to prevent his confirmation on a 58-40 roll call vote, with one senator voting “present.”

The procedural vote the Senate used required 60 votes. But the nomination will get another vote the week of Feb. 25 and Hagel may have the votes for confirmation by that time.

Chuck Hagel will not have the 60 votes to overcome a filibuster at tomorrow’s scheduled cloture vote on his nomination to become Defense secretary, NBC News reports.

Roll Call: “Republicans insist they are not mounting a filibuster but merely demanding a delay in a vote until their demands have been satisfied.”

Meanwhile, the Washington Free Beacon digs up a 2007 account of a speech by Hagel in which he claimed that the State Department “has become adjunct to the Israeli Foreign Minister’s office.”

Chuck Hagel, “known for his unswerving relentlessness
both as a senator and as a soldier, plans to stand fast as President
Obama’s nominee to head the Pentagon despite a growing GOP effort to
defeat him with a rare filibuster,” National Journal reports.

Said a spokesperson: “He could be defeated, but he’s not withdrawing. It’s not something anyone is discussing.”

A Senate vote on his nomination faces a 60 vote hurdle and is scheduled for Friday.

After Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) announced he is prepared to hold John Brennan’s nomination to be CIA director, an aide to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) said he wouldn’t honor the hold, NBC News reports.

Reid also refused to honor holds on Chuck Hagel’s nomination to be defense secretary which is scheduled for a Friday vote.

“Facing stiff Republican opposition to moving quickly on Chuck Hagel’s nomination to be secretary of Defense, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid filed a cloture motion this afternoon to cut off debate,” Politico reports.

“Sixty votes will be required to cut off debate and then move to an up-or-down vote on the nomination; the vote is scheduled for Friday unless a deal can be reached to hold it earlier.”

Said Reid: “This is the first time in the history that a presidential nominee for secretary of defense has been filibustered. What a shame.”

The Senate Armed Services Committee endorsed Chuck Hagel for secretary of Defense on a party line vote, amid GOP promises to filibuster the nomination and insist on a 60-vote majority during floor consideration, Roll Call reports.

The approval came “after a fractious markup, with senators getting into heated exchanges over Hagel’s disclosure of certain financial records.”

“In the supporting documents he turned over to Senate investigators as part of his confirmation process, Defense Secretary-designate Chuck Hagel did not disclose at least two recent speeches on the subject of the Arab-Israeli conflict,” Fox News reports.

“Obama administration sources and lawmakers said Hagel was required to declare to the Senate Armed Services Committee any ‘formal speeches’ he had given since the start of January 2008. That Hagel appears not to have declared the two speeches from 2008 could further jeopardize his nomination with Senate Republicans, who have already threatened to block the nomination because they believe Hagel has not turned over enough financial data.”

“Some Senate Republicans are prepared to filibuster Chuck Hagel’s nomination to become the next secretary of defense, a rare maneuver to block a Cabinet-level nominee that demonstrates the lingering hostility from GOP senators toward a man who used to serve with them,” Politico reports.

“But the filibuster threat — reiterated Monday by Sen. Jim Inhofe, the top Republican on the Armed Services Committee — would make Hagel just the third Cabinet nominee in history to require 60 votes to overcome a filibuster on the Senate floor. The other two nominees were President Ronald Reagan’s 1987 choice to head his Commerce Department, C. William Verity, and President George W. Bush’s 2006 choice of Dirk Kempthorne to be secretary of the interior.”

Roll Call: “The Senate panel overseeing Pentagon nominations plans to hold a vote Tuesday on the contentious nomination of Chuck Hagel to become Defense secretary, and while the panel may vote along party lines to recommend confirmation to the full Senate, some GOP lawmakers are expected to hold it up.”

The Senate Armed Services Committee could vote on Chuck Hagel’s nomination to be defense secretary as soon as Tuesday, “but Republican aides reacted to that idea by suggesting that some members could walk out in protest,” Politico reports.

First Read notes that while Hagel still has the votes to be confirmed “any day that goes by when there’s not a vote isn’t a good day for him.”

Esquire: “For the first time, the Navy SEAL who killed Osama bin Laden tells his story — speaking not just about the raid and the three shots that changed history, but about the personal aftermath for himself and his family. And the startling failure of the United States government to help its most experienced and skilled warriors carry on with their lives.”