The Senate Armed Services Committee is delaying its vote on the confirmation of Chuck Hagel, the president’s nominee to replace Leon Panetta at the Department of Defense, according to Foreign Policy’s Josh Rogin.
That delay comes after Hagel’s refusal to provide details about his financial involvements over the years, as well as a committee investigation into how Hagel’s Senate office handled a sexual-harassment allegation made by a former staff member against another former staffer.
In his response to the committee, Hagel earlier today said that the financial details are “legally controlled by the individual entities” for whom he provided services and, as a result, “not mine to disclose.”
Texas senator Ted Cruz led the charge to postpone the vote, distributing a letter to his GOP colleagues that calls for delaying the vote “unless and until [Hagel] provide[s] the requested information.” It has since garnered over 20 signatures.
The chairman of the Armed Services Committee, Michigan’s Carl Levin, has not indicated when a vote on Hagel’s confirmation will take place.