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job he is eager to give up. But they've also given the White House an opportunity to cast the GOP as obstructing President Barack Obama's assembly of a second-term national security team.
• Senate Republicans temporarily blocked a Hagel confirmation vote on Thursday, insisting that the administration must first answer more questions about its handling of a terrorist attack last September on a U.S. diplomatic compound in Benghazi, Libya, that killed four Americans, including Ambassador Chris Stevens.
• Jay Carney, the White House press secretary, called it "political posturing."
• "Just when you thought things couldn't get worse, it got worse," Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said after the GOP forced the delay.
• The Senate action amounted to a parliamentary maneuver, with Democrats needing 60 votes for Hagel's confirmation to move forward. It fell two votes short.
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• WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Barack Obama is trying to change the face of a federal judiciary that has a long tradition of white men passing judgment on parties from all walks of life -- if he can get his nominees past the Senate.
• Republicans have used the powers accorded the Senate minority party to slow Obama's influence on the federal bench. But recent changes to Senate rules suggest the process may begin to move faster, at least at the lower, U.S. District Court level.
• Under a recent bipartisan agreement, the Senate will limit debate on district court judge nominees to two hours, far below the 30 hours that used to be allowed. The hope is that will curtail a tradition that dates back to the Clinton administration of the president's opposing party stalling judicial nominees.
• Democrats also used the tactic for some of President George W. Bush's nominees, but the delays have been particularly long under Obama.
• Nearly half of Obama's nominees have waited for more than 100 days for confirmation votes, while less than 10 percent of Bush's waited that long, according to White House figures. Most of the Bush nominees were approved in less than a month after clearing committee, the White House said.
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