Gates getting bipartisan support on Hill By ANNE PLUMMER FLAHERTY
Associated Press Writer
Fri Nov 17, 8:24 PM ET
WASHINGTON - Robert Gates, picked by President Bush to take over at the Pentagon, received initial endorsements from Republican and Democratic Senate leaders Friday after meeting with them on Capitol Hill.
Gates' private one-on-one discussions with top lawmakers were in anticipation of a Dec. 5 confirmation hearing by the Senate Armed Services Committee. The Bush administration and top GOP senators hope to approve the nomination next month, while the Senate is still in Republican hands.
Senate approval of Gates would be an early test of a promise by some lawmakers to work together after the elections and reach bipartisan consensus on the war in Iraq.
Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid said Gates should be confirmed in the next few weeks, barring surprises. After meeting with the Republican nominee, Reid suggested Gates' most attractive trait was that he was not outgoing Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, who sparred with Democrats and some Republicans over Iraq.
"The one thing he has going for him ... is that we want the change to take place very quickly," said Reid, D-Nev. "So it's to our interest to have this change at the head of the Defense Department as soon as possible."
The day after voters catapulted Democrats to power in Congress in the Nov. 7 elections, Bush acknowledged that the lack of progress in Iraq had cost Republicans votes. In a bid to salvage public support, Bush said he would consider new ideas on Iraq and announced Rumsfeld's resignation.
Aides and lawmakers said Iraq was obviously a topic of discussion in Gates' meetings, but that the visit was intended more as a courtesy call than an in-depth exchange of ideas.
"One of the highest priorities, if not the highest priority, will be looking at the situation in Iraq," Gates told reporters after meeting with Sen. John Warner (news, bio, voting record), R-Va., chairman of the Armed Services Committee.
When asked whether there was a bipartisan solution to ending the war, Gates said, "I think I'll wait until the hearings to answer that question."
Senate Republican Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., and Senate Majority Whip Mitch McConnell said they looked forward to pushing through the confirmation in the lame-duck session.
"We're optimistic that Bob Gates will be confirmed before the first of the year," said McConnell, R-Ky., who will become minority leader next year.
Gates, a former CIA director, was serving as a member of an independent, blue-ribbon panel assessing options in Iraq when Bush asked him to replace Rumsfeld as Pentagon chief. Gates, 63, is president of Texas A&M University.
Gates also met Friday with Sens. John McCain, R-Ariz., and Trent Lott, R-Miss. Lott's spokeswoman said the senator "strongly supports his nomination and thinks the Senate should act on it quickly."
Sen. Carl Levin (news, bio, voting record), D-Mich., in line to take over Warner's position as chairman next year, is expected to meet with Gates on Monday.
Members of Congress often meet privately with high-profile nominees before public confirmation hearings to speak candidly and gauge where the political nominee stands on critical issues.
While Reid may support Gates, positions taken by other Democrats are less clear. Levin and Sen. Joseph Biden (news, bio, voting record), incoming chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, said they will keep an open mind and wait to make a decision until after his confirmation hearings.
In 1991, Levin and Biden, D-Del., were among 31 Democrats who voted against Gates becoming CIA director. They pointed to charges that Gates distorted intelligence for political reasons when advising President Reagan in the 1980s and knew more than he would admit about the "Iran-Contra" affair.
At the time, Gates acknowledged he could have done more to uncover the truth about the Iran-Contra scandal, where U.S. officials were illegally selling arms to Iran. The Senate confirmed him 64-31.
