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STORY: The U.S. Senate on Tuesday confirmed Chuck Hagel as President Barack Obama's new secretary of defense, ending an unusually acrimonious confirmation fight.
The Senate voted 58-41 to confirm the former Republican senator as the civilian leader of the Pentagon in a largely party line vote. Just four Republicans joined the Democrats and independents in support of Hagel's nomination.
The battle over Hagel's confirmation, a hard-fought victory for the Obama administration, is one of many bitter partisan struggles between Democrats and Republicans at a time when Congress is widely criticized for its inability to agree on even the most basic measures to run the country.
Many Republicans fiercely opposed Hagel, a decorated Vietnam War veteran who angered party leaders as a Nebraska senator when he criticized former President George W. Bush's handling of the Iraq war.
