verity in 1978 and dirk kempthorne. no appointment has ever been successfully filibustered, by the way. yesterday, senator jim inhofe, ranking member of the armed services committee, claimed republicans weren't filibust filibustering. really, they're not. >> this is not a filibuster. i keep getting stopped by people out in the hall, oh, you're going to filibuster, who's going to filibuster? it's not a filibuster. all they have to do is have a 60-vote margin. well, that's fine with me. if they have a 60-vote margin. >> republicans say the more reid, quote, rushes this vote, the easier it is for them to rally 41 republicans to vote against ending debate. republicans who once were opposed to a filibuster on any grounds, even though they planned to vote no, are sounding a bit more, shall we say, squirrely on the issue. for instance, missouri senator roy blunt told me this two weeks ago on the show. >> would you support a filibuster of chuck hagel's nomination? >> i doubt it. i doubt it. certainly, my strong inclination woul

dirk kempthorn and bill nelson running -- >> i love when people name dirk kempthorn. >> this is -- ihink the real dangerous precedent that's being set here, though, is let's say that this is partly lindsey graham posturing for 2014 in south carolina so he will eventually drop his objection and john mccain will go along. >> the mccain piece is interesting to me, though. a lot of people are saying watch where mccain goes. he has gone back and forth on this. an elder statesman of the senate who has respect for preer and the upper chamber. >> but he has such a strong personal relationship with lindsay graham, and lindsay graham is so personally invested in his 2014 re-election and being seen as the guy who is fighting the obama administration on this, so i kind of feel like -- it's just a guess, but my thought is that graham will eventually drop it. that will allow mccain to drop it. that will allow them to follow suit. then you have a new precedent. let's say you get to the floor with this vote, and it's 55-45 or 57-43. a party line vote is not entirely new, but that's close to a new ph

we had steve -- dirk kempthorne. all remember dirk kempthorne. there are a lot of people who did not approve of him. he was appointed by bush, a republican, and then when he came over here, the democrats didn't like him, they subjected him to a 60-vote margin. that wasn't a filibuster. this isn't a filibuster today. people are trying to say that and blame me as being the bad guy that's causing a filibuster. it's not the case at all. any more than it was the case back in the 2005-2006 and other times when we had a nominee that was put forth by president bush. it was objected to by the democrats. now, dirk kempthorne, when he was nominated to be the secretary of interior, there was a lot of opposition to him on the other side. of course they said we have got to subject him to a 60-vote threshold. well, that was a cabinet position that seemed to be drawing a distinction for some reason between the secretary of defense and any other cabinet positions. on a level, they're the same, and this happens over and over again. i will tell you one thing, rob p

administrator and the nomination of dirk kempthorne tor secretary of interior. the senate rules do not provide for 60-vote approval. these rules establish a 60-vote requirement to invoke cloture and end debate. 60 votes -- if 60 votes are required here, it's because it's a filibuster. there's no 60-vote requirement for the approve of a nomination. and the two examples cited by senator inhofe actually prove this point. the nomination of steven johnson, cloture was invoked by 61-37, on april 29, 2005. the nomination of dirk kempthorne, cloture was invoked by an 85-8 vote on may 26, 2006. but -- and this is the point -- after the debate was ended by those points on cloture, the nominations were confirmed by regular votes of this body. and those regular votes are either a voice vote or a majority vote. so that history is again an example of how the senate operates. 60 votes aren't required to approve a bill or approve a nomination. if a matter is being filibustered, 60 votes are required to end the debate. and then if the debate is ended, there is a vote on a nomina

and they said well, it turned out that the cloture vote for dirk kempthorne was 85-7. so clearly, he had 60 votes-plus and i voted for the cloture vote in this circumstance, and then he was affirmed by a voice vote thereafter. so it's happened before, but it happens rarely, twice in our history that we have had a cabinet nominee who is filibustered. what is peculiar about this -- i'll concede to the senator, there are many times we have questions that need to be answered before we can make a sound or final decision. what's peculiar about this vote, the questions are being asked about a fellow colleague, someone you served with for years. this is not a name that just was dropped out of the blue. i would assume that you knew chuck hagel, that you served with him, that you were on committees with him, that you sat hour after hour, day after day, maybe month after month in meetings together. so he is a known quantity, more so on your side of the aisle than on our side. i served with him on the intelligence committee. i thought he was a person of sound judgment. there were

we remember james watt, dirk kempthorne. >> who i think about every day. >> who wore a hat. >> much like>> not the same person. >> not the same person. their want to wear hats. >> but not a leopard skin pill box hat. >> that is also true. >> it may actually help her that she worked for mobile oil. because presumably she'll advocate the administration's policies and that gives her some credibility. sort of like having an engineer in the cabinet, it seems like a plus. >> and you have to think that the president gets pill arrestried for the permitting process when in reality he's not that much different where george bush was in terms of numbers of permits. so given all that, i don't know what that chart is, but it looks like a good one. oh, that is the government bar chart showing acres of public lands protected by the administration. obama has protected 2.6 million acres which is less than ronald reagan, george h.w. bush, bill clinton and george w. bush. interesting these picks. we'll nominate brennan and we'll nominate sally jewell and whether there's actually going to be a substantive di

dirk kempthorne was one that there was objection to. he was up for -- most of you remember him, a former senator from utah. he was up for the secretary of interior, and there are some people objecting to him. and of course that was back during the bush administration. he was nominated and he went ahead and he was confirmed. it was a 60-vote margin. there's nothing unusual about this. getting back to steven johnson, this is even more analogous to what we have what now, because this is a republican president, a democrat majority, and it was a democrat -- in the senate for confirmation. and we wanted to get -- get this confirmation of this -- of steven johnson to be through to be e.p.a. administrator and to do that we had to have a 60-vote margin. but steven johnson was a democrat, so here we had the republicans wanting steven johnson -- the democrats not wanting steven johnson. very analogous to what we have today. today we have a former senator chuck hagel, who is a republican, same analogous situation. so i guess what i am a trying to s

dirk kempthorne, same thing, secretary of interior.his idea that this is the first time is just not right. i'd really appreciate it if people would be a little more honest when they're looking at that issue. now, they also have said that we are -- we're in the middle of the wars, which we are. i'm the ranking member on the armed services committee. no one is more sensitive to it. no one spends more time talking to troops than i do. we do need to have confirmed a secretary of defense. leon panetta has said he will serve until such time as one is confirmed. but if we go ahead and if this should for some reason not be able to come up with 60 votes, i'd suggest that go ahead and nominate someone else and we'll run it there. i'd even help them. i called up leon panetta not too long ago -- i guess i shouldn't say this on the floor, but i did -- and i said why don't you agree to serve again. he had family reasons and i certainly understand that he was unable to do it. michele flournoy, i commented she would be one. i don't agree with her phil

the only other in 2006 with president bush's nomination of dirk kempthorne for department of the interiorder harry reid is calling the filibuster a shame. he's already filed a motion to end it and said the senate will vote friday to put a stop to the debate. >>> the president is gearing up with another battle with senate republicans over his latest nomination to the national labor relations board. on congress's holiday break last year obama chose two recess appointees former democratic labor department official sharon block and former democratic union lawyer richard griffin jr. just last month a federal appeals court ruled the appointments violated the constitution. now the senate must confirm the two if they wish to stay in their position. >>> and nielsen has just released its ratings of obama's state of the union. 33.5 million americans tuned in making for the lowest turnout actually since bill clinton's final address in 2000. more bill is up next after the break. stay with us. billy zane stars in barabbas. coming in march to reelz. to find reelz in your area, go to reelz.com >> announc