Closer, impossible. Just by one vote United States Senate confirmed this Friday former Fox News anchor and member of the Army National Guard Pete Hegseth as the new Secretary of Defense.
For the approval of Donald Trump’s nominee, the tie-breaking vote of Vice President JD Vance was necessary, after the Republicans did not obtain a simple majority in the senators’ vote, since three of their ranks did not support Hegseth.
With that vote tied at 50 votes in favor and 50 against, the session in the Senate was suspended momentarily so that the American vice president could come to the room to break the equality with his favorable vote, review EFE.
In addition to the Democratic caucus, Republican senators Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski, who had already advanced their decision, as well as veteran Mitch McConnell, who was leader of the Upper House, voted against this nomination, confirms the Spanish agency.
Despite this opposition, Hegseth was able to become the new head of the Defense portfolio amid controversy over his figure, even punctuated by accusations of sexual abuse.
Just this week, a former sister-in-law offered a sworn statement in Congress in which she accused Hegseth of having been “abusive” to his second wife and of having been “intoxicated” in private and public.
The now Secretary of Defense denied these accusations, as he did with others in the past, uncovered after his nomination by the then president-elect.
Close victory, but victory at last
What happened this Friday qualifies as the second time in history that a vice president breaks a tie for a cabinet appointment, refers the cnn. The previous one occurred—coincidentally?—in Trump’s first term, when in 2017 the vote of then Vice President Mike Pence allowed Betsy DeVos to be confirmed as head of the Department of Education.
In the opinion of the American media, the close vote “marked a significant victory for the Trump Government, which has endorsed Hegseth as its nominee, despite his lack of experience and the accusations against him.”
The now confirmed, who will be the main manager of 1.3 million military personnel in service, has acknowledged being an “atypical candidate” for the position and has promised to reform the Pentagon, particularly the policies he considers “woke,” and streamline the department bureaucracy, remember cnn.
Regarding the many criticisms against him, he has said that they are due to the fact that he is “an agent of change” and “a threat to them (his critics), because Donald Trump was willing to elect me to empower me and lead the Department of Defense back to what it really should be, which is the fight against war.”
Republican Lisa Murkowski, however, considered that Hegseth “lacks that strength of character” necessary to lead the Department of Defense, while Chuck Schumer, Democratic Senate minority leader, called him “one of the Cabinet picks.” most erratic, unskilled and inadequate that we have seen in modern times.”
For her part, fellow Democrat Patty Murray, vice president of the Appropriations Committee, highlighted this Friday other criticisms that Hegseth has faced, such as the mismanagement of organizations in favor of veterans that ended up in bankruptcy.
“I don’t see how bankrupting a nonprofit veterans organization through wasteful spending qualifies it to manage a budget of nearly $900 billion,” he said, referring to the Pentagon budget.
