A divided Senate voted 51-50 on Friday, with Vice President JD Vance casting the tie-breaking vote, to confirm Pete Hegseth as America’s next Defense secretary, narrowly beating back concerns about the nominee’s personal and professional record.
Three GOP senators — Susan Collins of Maine, Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska — voted no, requiring Vance to cast his first tie-breaking vote in his role as president of the Senate.
Friday’s vote marks only the second time a vice president broke a tie on a confirmation vote for a cabinet member. The previous instance occurred during Trump’s first term, when then-Vice President Mike Pence cast the 51st vote for Betsy DeVos to become secretary of Education.
The vote reflected the partisan split in the chamber and the broader divide in the body politic.
Hegseth’s bid has sparked fierce Democratic opposition, while Republicans have — with only three exceptions in the Senate — widely acceded to President Donald Trump’s choice.
“Mr. Hegseth will bring a warrior’s perspective to the role of Defense secretary and will provide much-needed fresh air at the Pentagon,” said Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., in floor remarks on Friday. “Gone will be the days of woke distractions. The Pentagon’s focus will be on war fighting.”
By contrast, Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer of New York, echoing other Democrats, said in a floor speech that Hegseth “has neither the character, the experience or the judgment required by the job.”
McConnell, for his part, never let on about his decision on Hegseth before he cast his vote. But in a statement just after the confirmation, McConnell suggested Hegseth lacked the professional qualifications for the job.
The former Senate GOP leader said running the Pentagon effectively is a daily test and added: “Mr. Hegseth has failed, as yet, to demonstrate that he will pass this test.”
Hegseth also has not provided senators with “substantive” prescriptions for how to handle an increasingly fraught global security situation, McConnell charged.
McConnell bucked GOP orthodoxy not just with his vote but also by suggesting that what some might call the anti-woke crusade that Hegseth appears bent on pursuing at the Pentagon is not what is needed.
McConnell accused President Joe Biden of failing to maintain a firewall between politics and national security and, he said, “the restoration of ‘warrior culture’ will not come from trading one set of culture warriors for another.”
Leadership questions
Hegseth would become the 29th confirmed Defense secretary since the position was created by the National Security Act of 1947.
His narrow confirmation victory was a departure from the Senate norm of bipartisan support for Defense secretary nominees over more than seven decades.
Hegseth’s nomination has proven controversial due to questions about his personal history, some of his views on military service and his limited professional experience relevant to running the Pentagon.
After Hegseth is sworn in, many lawmakers will closely watch to see how he might oversee women’s roles in the services, how he might affect policies for protecting noncombatants and enemy prisoners in wartime as well as his approach to diversity in the ranks.
Republicans are hopeful Hegseth will bring to his new job a proclivity for positive disruption, especially when it comes to streamlining the Pentagon’s acquisition bureaucracy.
Republicans also say they look forward to steering the Defense Department away from what they consider too much emphasis on Democrats’ social priorities and not enough on war-fighting skills.
“We’re going to do away with social justice DEI,” said Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala., in a Fox News interview Thursday, referring to diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives. “We’re going to have great recruiting. We’re going to put discipline back in the military.”
Concerns abound
Reports about Hegseth’s personal life have dominated headlines since Trump announced the pick last November. These include a history of heavy drinking and marital infidelity, which Hegseth has acknowledged, and an allegation of rape, which he has denied.
Another less publicized issue has been Hegseth’s lack of experience, compared to most previous nominees to be the Pentagon’s civilian leader.
He would be the third-youngest Defense secretary ever, after Robert McNamara in 1961 and Donald Rumsfeld in 1975, when he was confirmed for his first stint as secretary.
Hegseth was a decorated Army National Guard major who deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan. After his service, he ran a couple of veterans organizations, but his work was plagued by reported mismanagement and creation of what some have called a toxic workplace.
Then he worked as a commentator and host on Fox News.
Hegseth has publicly espoused controversial positions about topics ranging from women serving in combat roles to servicemembers’ adherence to the laws of war.
Those views and questions about his judgment have triggered public opposition from all Senate Democrats but from only three Republicans in the Senate.
Collins expressed concern in a Thursday post on the social media platform X that Hegseth “does not have the experience and perspective necessary to succeed in the job.” Murkowksi made similar arguments on X.
Trump, for his part, told reporters Friday morning that Hegseth is “a very, very good man.”
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