It was also a hard slap to a former colleague and member of the chamber. 
 
 Asked about the Senate vote during an online “fireside hangout,” Obama said that he expects that Hagel will be confirmed. But he slammed Senate Republicans for their “unprecedented filibuster” of a defense chief nominee. 
 
 “What seems to be happening, and this has been growing over time, is the Republican minority in the Senate seems to think that the rule now is that you need to have 60 votes for everything,” Obama said. “Well, that’s not the rule.” 
 
 He added that “it’s just unfortunate that this kind of politics intrudes at a time when I’m still presiding over a war in Afghanistan and I need a secretary of defense who is coordinating with our allies” on U.S. strategy in the region. 
 
 Republicans predicted they would relent to a simple majority vote, guaranteeing confirmation, later this month -- but only if they see more information about Hagel’s post-Senate foreign policy speeches and his work in private investment groups. Senior Republicans initially scoffed at those demands, first raised by freshman Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.), as unnecessary, but now party leaders hold them up as the main cause for delay. 
 
 Even if Hagel is eventually confirmed, the process marked another escalation in long-running nomination wars dating to the 1980s, now crossing into an area that has long been the most bipartisan on Capitol Hill: national security. 
 
 The Hagel fight also demonstrated the Republican fixation on the events surrounding the Sept. 11 attack on the U.S. consulate in Libya that killed four American diplomats. GOP senators have clung to the tragedy as cause for holding Hagel’s nomination hostage in exchange for more details about the attack. 
 
 Such demands are commonplace in the Senate but are usually reserved for lower-level Cabinet posts or for deputy-secretary positions, not for the person who is in charge of overseeing more than 2 million service members — 66,000 of them in battle in Afghanistan. 
 
 “This isn’t high school, getting ready for a football game or some play that’s being produced at high school,” Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.) said during an angry floor speech Thursday morning. “This is - we’re trying to confirm somebody to run the defense of our country, the military of our country.” 
 
 The final tally Thursday was 58 votes to end the filibuster to 40 against, but actually 59 backed Hagel because Reid changed his vote to no so that he could use parliamentary rules to quickly reconsider the nomination when the Senate returns from its Presidents Day break Feb 25. 

 Republicans have gained another 12 days in which to beat up on Chuck Hagel. And even though they may not ultimately stop him from taking over the Pentagon, they relished the opportunity to keep trying. 
 
 “The fight goes on,” said conservative editor Bill Kristol, who marshaled opposition research, media buys and op-eds against Hagel. Kristol vowed that he would “continue to work to convince a majority of senators of the undeniable truth that we can do much, much better than Mr. Hagel.” 
 
 Text Size - 
 
 + 
 
 reset Reid: Hagel filibuster 'tragic' PHOTOS: Hagel's confirmation hearing Play Slideshow POLITICO LIVE: Hagel, Brennan fight Obama's battles 
 
 (Also on POLITICO: Reid sets stage for Hagel showdown) 
 
 And one Republican aide promised the long Presidents’ Day recess would represent for Hagel “one more week of additional questions on top of the questions they refuse to answer.” 
 
 Just the same, Democrats said they remained confident they would finally make Hagel secretary of Defense when they try again on Feb. 26. In that sense, Thursday’s 58-40 vote to cut off Senate debate was as much an attempt to advance him as Potomac jiu-jitsu by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), who moved it up from Friday knowing it would fail in a bid to get Republicans on the record blocking him. Sixty votes were needed to move the nomination forward. 
 
 Reid and the White House seized the opportunity to slam the GOP for what they called needless obstructionism that might prove dangerous given the appearance that the Defense Department would be headless. Its incumbent boss, Leon Panetta, was set to stay on until Hagel is finally confirmed, the Pentagon confirmed, but Panetta flew home to California on Thursday to help sell the narrative that Republicans were leaving his office in the E-Ring vacant. 
 
 (PHOTOS: What they’re saying about Hagel) 
 
 White House Press Secretary Jay Carney charged Republicans with putting “political posturing ahead of our nation’s security.” 
 
 “A clear majority in the United States Senate supports Senator Hagel’s confirmation, so today’s action runs against both the majority will of the Senate and our nation’s interest,” Carney said. “Allow this war hero an up or down vote, and let our troops have the Secretary of Defense they deserve.” 
 
 (Also on POLITICO: McCain 'largely satisfied' on Hagel) 
 
 Republicans weren’t buying it – Senate Minority Whip John Cornyn said Reid had moved up the Hagel vote just “to get a story in the newspaper,” and he defended the validity of the sticking points over which Republicans had chosen to make their stand: Hagel’s financial disclosures and the Sept. 11 attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi. 
 
 Republicans said they needed to be confident Hagel hadn’t taken payments from “foreign sources,” and they said the White House owed them more detail about its actions in the immediate aftermath of the Benghazi attack. Democrats fumed, arguing the issues were unconnected and that Hagel had satisfied the Senate Armed Services Committee’s disclosure requirements, but they could also not muster the 60 votes to break Republicans’ barricade. 
 
 The White House attempted to mollify at least two key Republican opponents, John McCain of Arizona and Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, with a letter that explained that President Barack Obama had called his Libyan counterpart on the day after the attack, but it wasn’t enough. 

 Senate Republicans in a 58-40 vote Thursday blocked former Sen. Chuck Hagel’s (R-Neb.) nomination as Defense secretary from proceeding to a final up-or-down vote. 
 
 Four Republicans — Sens. Susan Collins (Maine), Thad Cochran (Miss.), Lisa Murkowski (Alaska) and Mike Johanns (Neb.)— joined 55 Democrats and Independents in supporting the nomination. Sixty votes were needed to cut off debate, leaving Democrats one vote short. 
 
 ADVERTISEMENT 
 
 The final 58-40 tally reflected a no vote from Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), who switched his vote from yes to preserve his ability to bring up the nomination again. 
 
 Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) voted present and Sen. David Vitter (R-La.) missed the vote. 
 
 Republicans said it was too early to clear Hagel’s nomination, but that they would consider allowing an up-or-down vote after the Senate returns to business on Feb. 25. 
 
 They blamed Democrats for rushing the vote and the White House for not providing additional information about Hagel’s compensation for paid speeches. 
 
 Reid scolded Republicans for holding up Hagel, saying it was the first filibuster of a Defense nominee in history. 
 
 Hagel seems likely to win confirmation eventually, but the delay highlighted the contentiousness of his nomination. 
 
 “I think it’s appropriate to wait until we come back,” said Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.). “I think there’s plenty of time to have any further questions answered and I intend to vote for cloture then. … He’d certainly get mine and a number of others.” 
 
 Collins said after the vote she did not try to lobby her Republican colleagues to vote for cloture, but she did not want to filibuster his nomination because she believes the president should have deference in picking his Cabinet. Collins plans to vote against Hagel for Defense secretary. 
 
 Reid and the White House blasted Republicans for holding up the nomination, accusing them of playing politics at a time when a Defense secretary is sorely needed. 
 
 The current secretary, Leon Panetta, is headed back home for California on Thursday, though he will remain on as Pentagon chief until a new one is in place. 
 
 “These delaying tactics are unconscionable, and they should end right away,” White House deputy press secretary Josh Earnest told reporters aboard Air Force One Thursday. 
 
 A White House official said that the delay would not stop Hagel’s confirmation. 
 
 “Senator Hagel is going to be confirmed, if not tomorrow then when the Senate returns from recess,” the aide told reporters. 
 
 President Obama, while participating in a Google Plus hangout, said the vote was “unfortunate.” He noted that Hagel had been consistently praised by Republicans as a senator and was “imminently qualified” to be Defense secretary. 
 
 Democrats were seeking to finish Hagel’s confirmation this week after he cleared the Senate Armed Services Committee Tuesday. 
 
 Republicans have demanded more information about speeches the nominee gave and his compensation for them. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) at a hearing this week suggested the speeches were given to extreme or radical groups, a statement some Democrats have criticized. 
 
 Other Republicans, including McCain and Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), had threatened to block Hagel because the White House wasn’t giving them the information they were looking for about the terrorist attack last year on a U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya. 
 
 Democrats had hoped that a White House letter sent to Graham, McCain and Sen. Kelly Ayotte (R-N.H.) on Wednesday might convince them to vote for cloture, but the senators stuck with their party. 
 
 “There’s a good many of us who believe tomorrow is ridiculous because he just came out of committee two days ago,” Graham told reporters. “But when we come back, I’d feel very comfortable, unless something really stunning comes out, to go to vote.” 
 
 Graham also blamed Democrats for forcing the vote on Hagel this week, saying they had delayed votes in the past on Bush administration appointees. 
 
 “Lousy of them — what a double standard,” Graham said. “I’m highly confident if the Democrats were in our shoes and you had a controversial nominee like this with outstanding information, that they would do at least what we’ve done, probably more.” 
 
 Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) suggested that a cloture vote might not even be necessary after the recess, if no Republicans objected going straight to a final up-or-down confirmation vote. 
 
 He also felt that the White House would provide the “legitimate information” that GOP senators have been asking for. 
 
 “I think the legitimate information that’s been asked for will come,” Corker said. “Some people may have asked for things that are over the top — I don’t know that, by the way — but I think the legitimate requests will be answered.” 
 
 After a party lunch Thursday, GOP senators were nearly united in saying that the Senate was moving too quickly to confirm a controversial nominee. 
 
 “The bottom line is it’s premature for Sen. Reid to cut off debate today,” said Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.). “I have a little personal experience with this — I was nominated and it took 87 days between the time I was nominated and the time I was confirmed.” 
 
 Republicans have bristled at the notion they are filibustering Hagel’s nomination, and say he will almost surely be confirmed after the recess. 
 
 But Democrats say that Republicans are in fact taking the unprecedented step of filibustering a Defense secretary nominee. 
 
 “It is shocking that our Republicans colleagues would leave our nation without a secretary of Defense with all the things going on and when we’re in a war,” Reid said Thursday. 
 
 The White House had hoped Hagel would be in place after this week to attend a NATO meeting of defense ministers in Brussels next week. Now Panetta may take one more trip abroad before he retires back to California. 
 
 "We'll cross that bridge if we come to it," a senior defense official told The Hill. 
 
 This story was posted at 4:59 p.m. and updated at 5:51 p.m.
– The Chuck Hagel drama continued on Capitol Hill today, as Republicans refused to allow a final vote on his confirmation to become defense secretary, reports the Hill. Hagel is expected to prevail eventually—but now it can't happen until lawmakers return from the Presidents' Day recess. Expect the next vote on Feb. 26, reports Politico. One of the sticking points is that Republicans want more information about Hagel's compensation for speeches he gave after leaving the Senate in 2008. “I think it’s appropriate to wait until we come back,” said John McCain. “I think there’s plenty of time to have any further questions answered and I intend to vote for cloture then.” Harry Reid needed 60 votes to force an up-or-down vote today, but he came up with only 58. The White House, noting earlier that Hagel would miss a NATO meeting in Brussels next week, called the GOP tactics "unconscionable." The move marks the first time a nominee for defense secretary has faced a filibuster, reports the Washington Post.