WASHINGTON — Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid is pressing GOP leaders to clear the Senate's many holds on civilian nominees to top national security posts, saying Republicans would rather try to embarrass President Barack Obama than make the nation safe.
"Republicans aren't getting the message. They talk a good game about security, but things just like this they're not doing," Reid, D-Nev., told reporters on Wednesday. "We need to do everything we can to focus attention on it."
Republican leaders, committee chairmen and members from the Republican majority have unhelpfully kept the president’s nominees from advancing to a Senate floor confirmation vote, effectively making the country less secure from threats such as the Islamic State group, Reid said.
"We made a commitment to go after ISIS, and each of these nominees would assist in that effort, so why aren't Republicans scheduling votes to confirm them," Reid said. "Only in an effort to embarrass the president. It's not embarrassing the president, it's hurting our national security."
Not every national security nomination is on hold. Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman John McCain, R-Ariz., announced Wednesday that the committee will hold a hearing Thursday on the nomination of Lt. Gen. John Nicholson, to command of United States Forces-Afghanistan. He would replace Gen. John Campbell.
Outside of Pentagon nominees, Reid called attention to Adam Szubin, the Treasury Department undersecretary nominee. The job plays an important role in restricting the sources of income for the Islamic State group, Reid said.
Reid also mentioned State Department undersecretary for policy nominee Tom Shannon and State Department legal adviser nominee Brian Egan.
Banking Committee Chairman Richard Shelby, R-Ala., has refused to hold a vote in the committee on Szubin, who has been waiting since President Obama nominated him in April, 2015.
Sen. Ted Cruz, a Republican presidential candidate from Texas who has voiced hawkish national security views on the campaign trail, has placed a hold on at least four nominees highlighted by Senate Democrats, according to a partial list obtained by Defense News.
Cruz has placed a hold on Egan — along with Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa — and Shannon. He also has holds on nominees for ambassadors to Mexico, Norway and Sweden respectively.
Reid highlighted high-level Pentagon civilian nominees, including the Army secretary nominee Eric Fanning, Navy undersecretary nominee Janine Davidson, Pentagon general counsel nominee Jennifer O'Connor, and Todd Weller, the nominee for assistant secretary of defense for manpower and reserve affairs.
In defense circles, the highest profile nominee of the bunch is Fanning, who would make history as the first openly gay armed service secretary.
Sen. Pat Roberts, R-Kan., told reporters Wednesday that his hold on Fanning's nomination was not based on Fanning's sexuality.
Rather, he placed the hold to protest the administration's consideration of Fort Leavenworth, home to the US Disciplinary Barracks in Kansas, as a potential site for relocating prisoners when if the detention facility in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, is closed.
"I need some assurance from this administration they're not going to put any detainees in Gitmo on the mainland and especially Fort Leavenworth," Roberts said.
Roberts said placed a similar hold on then-Army Secretary John McHugh — "a good friend" — for the same reasons.
"I don't like holds, but that's the issue, it isn't about sexuality or gender or anything like that," Roberts said. Of Fanning, he said, "I think he's a pretty good nominee."
Though Fanning sailed through his confirmation hearing Jan. 17, he may not get to serve very long, if at all, unless his nomination comes to a vote soon. If confirmed, his longevity would be up to the winner of this year's presidential race.
Senate Armed Services Ranking Member Jack Reed, D-R.I., noted Fanning's previous experience as a senior civilian in the Air Force and Navy, he said he hoped the Army would have a confirmed secretary soon. He said scheduling a Senate floor vote on Fanning is up to Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky.
"I don't know what the floor schedule is, but the hearing went very well, very positive I thought," Reed said, "and my sense is it's the chairman's prerogative to schedule votes and Leader McConnell's prerogative to put the floor vote in play."
McCain, too, said he would like to see Fanning's nomination advance.
"I hope we can resolve the reasons for holds, and I'd like to move forward and have a vote in the Senate," he said.
Email: jgould@defensenews.com
Twitter: @reporterjoe
Joe Gould was the senior Pentagon reporter for Defense News, covering the intersection of national security policy, politics and the defense industry. He had previously served as Congress reporter.
