The Senate's inability to force major changes in Iraq policy because of a 60-vote supermajority threshhold is weakening confidence in government, Sen. Chuck Hagel said Thursday.
DON WALTON / Lincoln Journal Star | Posted: Wednesday, July 11, 2007 7:00 pm
The Senate’s inability to force major changes in Iraq policy because of a 60-vote supermajority threshhold is weakening confidence in government, Sen. Chuck Hagel said Thursday.
“It’s a frustrating process,” he told his weekly telephone news conference from Washington. “It paralyzes us. The American people have lost confidence in our leadership.”
Hagel’s comments came the day after two of his Iraq amendments commanded majority support among the Senate’s 100 members, but fell to the 60-vote requirement to stave off a filibuster by invoking cloture to end debate.
On the other hand, Hagel acknowledged, “it was never intended to be easy here” because the framers of the Constitution crafted the Senate as a deliberative body that is cumbersome in nature.
Nevertheless, the 60-vote cloture procedure comes with “a standard of responsible behavior we’re not paying much attention to,” he suggested.
Although key Iraq proposals are being stopped now by Republican use of the 60-vote barrier, Hagel said, he believes the Senate will confront “a different environment” in September when Congress receives a detailed report on progress in Iraq.
An interim report submitted this week includes an unrealistic assessment of progress, Hagel said.
“I find it just astounding” to suggest that the newest Bush administration strategy has begun to stabilize Iraq, he said. "I don’t know what country they’re talking about."
None of the major issues listed by Congress in establishing benchmarks for Iraqi progress has been resolved, he said. And violence has been increasing.
“I really do not see very much progress,” he said. “There is no functioning government in Iraq today.”
The war has been devastating to U.S. interests, Hagel said. The U.S. attack and subsequent occupation of Iraq has “created more terrorists (and) undermined our own influence and interests,” Hagel said.
“There were no terrorist activities in Iraq before we got there," he said. “We are in a lot of trouble … We have chaos on our hands in Iraq and the Middle East.”
Hagel’s two amendments would have mandated more leave time at home for soldiers following deployment to Iraq or Afghanistan and limited the length of time they could be deployed. One amendment attracted 56 votes for cloture; the other received 52 votes.
Reach Don Walton at 473-7248 or at dwalton@journalstar.com.