Pentagon nominees wait while political games go on

Two wars are not enough to take the Pentagon seriously enough to get politics out of the way. The national security threat is not enough to get politics out of the way. What's it going to take for all of our elected to do the right thing for the men and women serving it? Gee, what if they finally lived up to the words they always manage to say but never seem able to do? "Support the troops" means giving them what they need to do the jobs they are sent to do with the best this country has to offer. Their lives should matter enough that the conscience of the elected would never allow this to happen. Stop playing games and give the nominees an up or down vote now because the troops are waiting for real leadership in Washington.

Levin urges end to hold on Pentagon nominees

By Rick Maze - Staff writer
Posted : Friday Feb 5, 2010 15:01:55 EST

Two months of unexplained delay on four top Pentagon nominations is long enough, the Senate Armed Services Committee chairman said Thursday.

At issue are nominations to fill vacancies for the Pentagon’s top personnel official, someone to oversee defense acquisition reform, and two key Air Force posts — the service undersecretary and assistant secretary for installations.

The armed services committee unanimously approved the Obama administration’s picks for the jobs Dec. 2, but final confirmation by the Senate has been postponed because an anonymous senator has put a hold on the nominations.

“We have service members willing to risk their lives in defense of the nation,” Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., the armed services committee chairman, said Thursday. “The least we can do as a Senate is to confirm nominees to the critical positions to lead the Defense Department. If anybody has a problem with these nominees, would they please come to the floor and tell us? We have heard nothing.”
read more here
Levin urges end to hold on Pentagon nominees