Harris advances Kahl's nomination with tie-breaking vote

Vice President Harris cast a tie-breaking vote in the Senate Wednesday evening to advance the embattled nomination of Colin Kahl to be under secretary of defense for policy.

Harris' vote to discharge Kahl's nomination officially moved the matter from the Senate Armed Services Committee, which was deadlocked at 13-13, to the full Senate. Votes on Kahl's nomination are expected to take several days and the vice president will likely need to cast a series of several tie-breaking votes amid unanimous Republican opposition.

Senate Republicans have sought to block Kahl's nomination, citing partisan tweets and policy statements, as well as the role he played in the former Obama administration's 2015 nuclear deal with Iran. Some Republicans have also requested the FBI investigate Kahl for allegedly disclosing classified information on social media.

Kahl, who has denied revealing classified information, has pledged to be "nonpartisan" if confirmed, and has apologized for past tweets that may have been "disrespectful," including one in which he called the GOP "the party of ethnic cleansing."

"The last few years have been pretty polarizing on social media. I am sure there are times that I got swept up in that," he said during his March nomination hearing.

Kahl said he "strongly opposed" several of former President Trump's positions.

"The language that I used in opposing those was sometimes disrespectful and for that I apologize," he said.

Kahl would only be the third Senate-confirmed official President Biden has sent to the Pentagon, after Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and Deputy Defense Secretary Kathleen Hicks, both of whom were confirmed by overwhelmingly bipartisan votes.