confirmation hearing

President Obama's nominee to head the Pentagon faced plenty of questions from senators at his confirmation hearing on Thursday.

Leon Panetta is currently the Director of the CIA and is expected to be easily confirmed as Defense secretary.

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Even though Dr. Donald Berwick took the reins of Medicare and Medicaid without a confirmation hearing, one senator hasn't stopped asking questions.

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How would Donald Berwick have handled questions in a confirmation hearing for his post as head of Medicare and Medicaid?

Some Republicans pull answers from the historical record.

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Ben Bernanke is widely crediting with helping keep the Great Recession from becoming a second Great Depression.

But the Federal Reserve chairman faces anger from both Congress and the public for bailing out Wall Street, while ordinary Americans are struggling under the crush of high unemployment, stagnant incomes and rising foreclosures.

Judge Sonia Sotomayor is expected to wrap up her confirmation hearing testimony Thursday. We'll hear audio excerpts of highlights from the day's discussions, and talk with Dahlia Lithwick, senior editor of Slate.com, about Sotomayor's performance and why she argues that senators on both sides dropped the ball.

Read the opening statement, as prepared for delivery, by Sen. Jeff Sessions, ranking Republican of the Senate Judiciary Committee, at the beginning of the confirmation hearing for Judge Sonia Sotomayor to be an associate justice of the U.S.

Supreme Court.

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Read the opening statement, as prepared for delivery, by Sen. Patrick Leahy, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee at the beginning of the confirmation hearing for Judge Sonia Sotomayor to be an associate justice of the U.S.

Supreme Court.

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