The effort to confirm Chuck Hagel’s nomination as the nation’s Defense Secretary has lost another supporter in the U.S. Senate, a vote that may come as soon as Tuesday. Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley, a Republican, says he’s decided he will not endorse Hagel, a former senator from Nebraska.
Grassley says, “I’m going to vote no because I have doubts about his sincerity about our relationships with Israel and his position on sanctions to Iran.” Grassley is not among the 15 Republican senators who signed a letter to President Obama asking that he withdraw Hagel’s nomination.
Although he’ll be voting no, Grassley says if Hagel’s nomination comes to the Senate floor, he expects Hagel to be confirmed. Among Nebraska’s two U.S. senators, both Republicans, Mike Johanns says he’ll back Hagel’s nomination while Deb Fischer says she’ll oppose it.