National
Journal Group
Learn more about our publications and sign up for a free trial.
E-Mail Alerts
Get notified the moment your favorite features are updated.
Need A Reprint?
Click here for details on reprints, permissions and back issues.
Advertise With Us
Details on advertising with National Journal Group -- both online and in print -- can be found in our online media kit.
Go Wireless
Get daily political updates on your handheld computer.
|
Last Updated June 22, 2005
Chuck Hagel, first elected in 1996, is Nebraska's senior senator. Hagel grew up in the Sand Hills and small towns of Nebraska; his father died when he was 16, and Chuck Hagel started supporting his family. He dropped out of college, worked as a radio DJ, then with his younger brother Tom volunteered for service in Vietnam. Promoted to sergeant because so many were dying, Chuck and Tom served together; in March 1968, when their armored personnel carrier hit a mine, Chuck, his body on fire, dragged Tom from the APC to safety. Chuck Hagel returned home, worked his way through the University of Nebraska in Omaha, then got a job in Omaha Congressman John McCollister's office. He rose to administrative assistant; after McCollister lost a Senate race in 1976, Hagel became a lobbyist for Firestone. He later got the number two position in the Reagan Veterans' Affairs Administration, but resigned after only one year. He was one of two main speakers at the 1982 groundbreaking of the Vietnam Veterans' Memorial. Then he made his great break, using all of his savings--$5,000--and starting Vanguard Cellular Systems, which became the second largest independent cell phone company in the nation; Hagel traveled on business to 60 countries and installed cell phone systems in Costa Rica, Saudi Arabia and Britain. Then he became head of World USO and then deputy director of the 1990 G-7 Summit. In 1992 he returned to Omaha, to work in investment banking; the McCarthy Group, of which he was a partner, owned a share of a company that is now known as Election Systems & Software, which manufactures nearly half of American voting machines. He was criticized later for naming in his disclosure forms the McCarthy Group, and not the firms in which it has an interest. In 1995 he started running for the Senate, very much the underdog. His platform was solidly conservative, sometimes riskily so: He backed school choice, opposed racial quotas and preferences, backed the Freedom to Farm Act ("less government and more open markets"), opposed the estate tax. In the primary he called state Attorney General Don Stenberg a "career politician"; Stenberg hit him for living 20 years in Virginia and for contributing to Bob Kerrey's 1992 presidential campaign. Hagel won the May primary 62%-37% and in the general faced Governor Ben Nelson, who had won re-election in 1994 by a 73%-26% margin. Nelson had a record of tax-cutting; he supported the balanced budget amendment and other conservative causes. Nelson led consistently in polls, though by lower margins in the fall, and raised far more PAC money--$909,000, nearly half of his campaign funds--but Hagel spent $1 million of his own money and $3.5 million altogether. Hagel resisted advice from Republican campaign committee head Alfonse D'Amato to go negative; Nelson in the last weeks charged that Hagel had engaged in fraudulent franchising practices with Vanguard. Newspapers hit Nelson, and Hagel responded, "This is a guy who lies. This is a guy who cheats. This is a guy who will do anything." Hagel won 56%-42%, carrying 88 of 93 counties. In the Senate, Hagel sought a seat on Foreign Relations and got it--because no one else wanted it. He quickly became, in columnist David Broder's words, "the freshman who probably has made the deepest impression on his colleagues of both parties." From a historically isolationist state, but one now heavily dependent on exports, Hagel has become a leading internationalist. His impulse is toward a bipartisan foreign policy when possible. Hagel called on his military experience in 1997 to support the treaty against land mines, which was opposed by the Clinton administration; he spoke for the chemical weapons treaty ratified by the Senate in 1997 over the objections of Foreign Relations Chairman Jesse Helms; he voted against the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty in October 1999 but joined Democrats and the administration in trying to prevent the vote. In 1999 he questioned whether the U.S. should defend Taiwan against a Chinese attack. He supported the bombing of Serbia in spring 1999, but decried the Clinton policy of ruling out the use of ground troops. In George W. Bush's first full month as president, Hagel joined Christopher Dodd in sponsoring a resolution to open Cuba to all U.S. exports and to end all restrictions on travel and credit. "Our 40-year policy toward Cuba is senseless," he said. He was one of two senators to vote against extending trade sanctions on Iran and Libya. After September 11, he has been one of the Republicans most cautious against taking action against states that sponsor terrorism. His experience traveling abroad on business and coordinating a G-7 summit may have led him to place a high value on reaching consensus with European nations. In February 2002 he was accusing the administration of a "cavalier approach" to the rest of the world and said that the axis of evil part of George W. Bush's first State of the Union speech was "name calling." Before Bush's September 12, 2002, speech to the United Nations, Hagel said he had "a completely open mind" on military action in Iraq. He backed Joseph Biden and Richard Lugar in their efforts to draft a resolution endorsing military action only after diplomatic efforts were exhausted in the United Nations; that was put aside after Bush got agreement on his draft from congressional Republican leaders and House Minority Leader Richard Gephardt. He voted for the Iraq war resolution, but insisted, "Actions in Iraq must come in the context of an American-led, multilateral approach to disarmament, not as the first case for a new American doctrine involving the preemptive use of force." In a Foreign Affairs article in July 2004, he wrote that U.S. policy should not be ruled by a sense of "divine mission," but should inspire allies to work with us on "making a better world." He argued for expanding free trade agreements, seeking long-term security through alliances, coalitions and international institutions like the United Nations and NATO and advancing democracy with an eye on realities in the Middle East, particularly anger toward the U.S. stance on Israel-Palestinian issues. "We're in deep trouble in Iraq," he told the press in September 2004. "It's beyond pitiful, it's beyond embarrassing. It is now in the zone of dangerous." Some of his comments were quoted by John Kerry in one of the presidential debates, and Hagel's comments on his fellow Vietnam veteran suggested he might be closer to him on Iraq than to Bush. "I like him," Hagel said. "He's smart, he's tough, he's capable. I don't agree with him on a lot of things [though] I am closer to him on foreign policy questions." Hagel has a mostly conservative voting record in the Senate. He opposes abortion, favors school prayer, has taken stands in favor of vouchers. But he has been critical of his party's leaders on occasion. When in July 1999 Majority Leader Trent Lott and others put holds on the nomination of Richard Holbrooke to be U.N. ambassador, he said that was "an irresponsible way to govern." He spent much of his time that year and in early 2000 campaigning for John McCain for president. The two had often met with other senators who were Vietnam veterans and had developed a strong bond. He sharply criticized George W. Bush's campaign tactics in South Carolina, but he also was one of the few who would talk back to McCain. After McCain lost, Hagel was on Bush's short list of vice presidential prospects. Though he did not get that nomination, the McCain campaign, plus Hagel's own work on foreign policy, made him a national figure. Hagel did not agree with McCain on campaign finance. He favored reducing soft money contributions but not limiting them; his amendment to do that was rejected 60-40 in March 2001. He supported oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and opposed limits on drilling, logging and grazing in national forests. He voted against the 2001 education bill. He opposed the farm bill passed in 2002 and criticized its conservation sections for interfering with water rights under state law; he, Charles Grassley and Byron Dorgan did get the Senate to limit payments to $275,000. In late 2002 he led an uprising in the Republican Conference against riders added to the homeland security bill by House Majority Leader Dick Armey (he called that "dishonest, deceitful back room dealing") and got Trent Lott to make a commitment that those items would be revisited in the next Congress. Hagel voted against the Medicare prescription drug bill in 2003, calling it "a sham and a ripoff for everybody … and actually it's going to make our problems worse." In January 2004 he sponsored an immigration bill with Tom Daschle to let illegal immigrants achieve "earned legalization" on demonstrating four years of work and mastery of the English language; willing workers would be matched with willing employers. Amid the election year hubbub about outsourcing of jobs, Hagel said, "Outsourcing cannot be understood as simply the number of jobs shipped overseas. As American companies outsource jobs, there are also potential benefits to American businesses and workers." With Tom Harkin, he sponsored a bill requiring the federal government to increased special education aid to states from the current 18% to the authorized maximum of 40% within six years; it got 56 votes, less than the 60 required to exceed budget limits. In September 2004 he proposed to waive the $1,200 enrollment fee for G.I. Bill of Rights benefits and to increase the death benefit for soldiers from $12,000 to $50,000; in January 2005 he raised that to $100,000. He sponsored the Vietnam Veterans Memorial education center that passed the Senate unanimously in July 2003. In March 2005 he introduced the first bill that session to change Social Security by adding voluntary personal retirement accounts. In March 2003 Hagel and the entire Nebraska delegation sponsored a bill to double the use of ethanol in gasoline and to mandate five billion gallons of renewable fuels, mainly ethanol, by 2015. In October 2003 he voted against the McCain-Lieberman bill to impose limits on carbon dioxide emissions, but later promised his own bill on the subject in 2005. In March 2003, Hagel, Dorgan and Congressman Tom Osborne sponsored a Homestead Act, targeted at counties with a population decline of 10% over 20 years, with tax credits for expanding and incoming businesses, loan forgiveness of 50% of college loans for recent graduates, a $5,000 tax credit for home purchases and tax-free homestead savings accounts. He and Nebraska colleague Ben Nelson co-sponsored the $2.9 billion drought and hurricane relief package that passed the Senate in September 2004. When the White House made and then withdrew the nomination of Columbus, Nebraska businessman Tony Raimondo as a "jobs czar," Hagel was furious that he had not been notified. Raimondo was a friend of Ben Nelson, Hagel's opponent in 1996, whose stands on the 2001 tax cuts, the 2002 farm bill and Department of Homeland Security labor regulations he had criticized in blunt terms. Asked if there was bad feeling between them, Hagel said, "We're not friends, we're colleagues. That's not unusual." They have nonetheless worked together on many Nebraska and some national issues. In 2002 Hagel's Democratic opponent couldn't afford the $1,500 filing fee and filed as a pauper. Hagel raised $3.5 million, but spent only $2 million, and won 83%-15%, by a considerable margin the biggest percentage victory ever in a Nebraska Senate race. He won 78% or more in 91 of 93 Nebraska counties, and as much as 94% in one; the other two, in the northeast corner of the state, he carried with 68% and 74%. His Sandhills PAC gave $215,000 to House and Senate candidates, $30,000 to the Senate Republican campaign committee, $10,000 to the Nebraska Republican party and $5,000 to the Iowa Republican party in the 2004 cycle. Hagel has been mentioned as a possible presidential candidate in 2008. When asked the day after the 2004 election whether he would run, he said, "I've not reached that point yet; I don't need to reach that point yet. I'm going to continue to focus on my responsibilities in the Senate, and along the way on parallel tracks I'll assess my options for 2008." Some have speculated that he would not run against his friend McCain, but the two have had strikingly different positions on Iraq and the importance of respecting allies' wishes. Hagel's clear differences with George W. Bush on foreign policy may not be an advantage in Republican primaries, nor his position on taxes. "At some point somebody's going to ask you in a debate: 'Well, Senator, will you pledge that if you're elected never to raise taxes?' I couldn't take that pledge. It would be irresponsible. That may cost me the nomination."
Committees
National Journal Group offers both print and electronic reprint services, as well as permissions for academic use, photocopying and republication. Click here to order, or call us at 877-394-7350. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
NEW FEATURE
[ Site Index | Staff | Privacy Policy | E-Mail Alerts ]
[ Reprints And Back Issues | Content Licensing ]
[ Make NationalJournal.com Your Homepage ]
[ About National Journal Group Inc. ]
[ Employment Opportunities ]
Copyright 2013 by National Journal Group Inc.
The Watergate · 600 New Hampshire Ave., NW
Washington, DC 20037
202-739-8400 · fax 202-833-8069
NationalJournal.com is an Atlantic Media publication.
