Talk Elections

I hereby open the confirmation hearing for Colin Wixted as Secretary of Defense.  To appease certain people ( :) ), and because I think it's a good idea, we'll have a day or so of questioning, followed by a vote.

Mr Wixted, are you in favour of fiscal responsibility?

Well first I have to say what does that have to do with the Secretary of Defence position? Secondly yes I consider myself a supporter of a balanced budget and fiscal responsibility. This though does not mean that I will short change our military. They need continued funding and continued improvements to continue to be the best fighting force in the world and so the Atlasian military is able to respond to the new threats of the 21st Century.

Mr. Wixted, I would like to ask if you feel the budget of the millitary should be increased, and if so, why?

I feel that the military budget should be increased. We have already seen by the recent Iraqi insurgency that the military is underfunned and strdetched too thin. We must work on rectifying the problems in our military and keep on the cutting edge of new military technology. To do this we need more money appropriated to the military and to the Department of Defence. The Armed Forces still have the technology and training to fight the Soviet Union not the new menace of terrorism and urban warfare that we have seen in Iraq. So to answer your question yes I would propose military budget increases.

To increase the military spending, we would either have to cut funding for other programs or raise taxes. Which do you prefer, and which programs would you cut if you cut domestic programs to pay for your vision of the military?

[cough]Education and Ripoff for Taxpayers bill[/cough]

Well personally I think that is the Senate jobs. I just propose options for the Senate to consider, I don't actually make and vote on the bills. You must remember that a Secretary of Defence is here to do two thing. One advise the President on matters of National Security, Military Matters, and Defence and two advise the Senate on those topics. I can just tell the Senate what it should do, it is their responsibility to actually do it.

So you have no opinion on how the Senate should create the neccessary funds for an increase in military spending, you just want more funding for your department?

Well personally I would rather have other areas of the federal budget cut to facilitate a budget increase for the Defence Department but I would rather leave matters of fundraising to the Senate since that is their job. As I said before the Secretary of Defence just advises the President and the Senate, he doesn't write or vote on bills.

Fair enough. You seem to know what you're doing, so even though I can't vote on this, I support you for the job.

Well thank you Mr. Akno.

Might I simply point out that under me, we increased defense spendng significantly and we rarely nipped or tucked to find money for expansions.  We just borrowed.  I don't see why Colin should be held to a different standard than past Secretaries.

Well, as there appear to be no more questions, I'll open voting now.

All senators in favor of Colin Wixted for the position of Secretary of Defense, vote "yea"; all opposed, vote "nay".

Aye

Yea.

I urge my Senators to vote Yea on ColinW's confirmation.  I believe he will be an excellent Secretary of Defense.

Yea.

Yea

Abstain.
Nothing personal Colin, I think you'll do a terrific job, but I have developed a policy of abstaining on cabinet assignments when they are having a secured appointment, because that'll give me the political freedom to criticize them.

I really don't see what you mean by that. I now have only 4 votes for my confirmation thus still keeping me from taking the office of Sec Def. Come on Senators DO SOMETHING.

Wow, that's about one of the looniest things I've heard around here.

Just for that, I am now neutral in my endorsement for District 2 Senate.

Er, why can you not criticize someone if you voted to confirm them?  Those voting to confirm Colin don't expect absolute perfection; we simply expect that he'll do at least a fairly good job.  Is an employer unable to criticize an employee due to the employer's decision to hire the employee?

How is it that this highly qualified candidate has only received four Aye votes so far?

Aye

Can we please end this now. With 5 in favour and one abstention I am confirmed. Might I remind the Senate that it took six days for me to be confirmed. This shows the slow and unefficient nature of the Senate.

Not my fault: I only got me home internet connection back late yesterday.

Not saying it was since that was an understandable problem but what about the other Senators? It took 6 days for just 6 Senators to vote. That is a little discouraging.

Part of the problem may have been that the confirmation vote wasn't listed on the Status thread; As a note to Harry, I think that he should do this in future, it was certainly my custom

6 days for 6 votes.... Man! Best of luck in your new job, Colin. Still, there should be a conformation vote thread to help out the Senators who may not have noticed that questioning was over, or that the vote had started.

Yea

That's actually not a bad idea.

Or another idea would be to give Gabu (or whoever's PPT at the time) the chance to sticky bills and confirmations which are presently up for vote along with Harry's summary of things.

With six votes in favor to none against, and with one abstention, I hereby declare Colin Wixted to be confirmed as Secretary of Defense.


I send senators a reminder to vote when voting is taking way too long; I was actually about to do that for this one.