The leader of the incoming Democratic majority in the US Senate said on Friday he expects lawmakers will confirm the proposed successor to Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and that his party wants to see the change carried out 'as soon as possible'.
President George W. Bush nominated Robert Gates, a former director of the Central Intelligence Agency, to replace Rumsfeld a day after the president's Republicans lost control of Congress in legislative elections last week dominated by the unpopular Iraq war.
"Unless something comes up untoward at the hearings, which I don't expect, he should be confirmed," said Democrat Senator Harry Reid, the next majority leader.
"The one thing he has going for him ... is we want the change to take place very quickly. So it's to our interest to have this change at the head of the Defence Department as soon as possible," Reid said.
The Democrats sharply criticised Rumsfeld's handling of the US occupation of Iraq and had long demanded the president replace him.
Gates's nomination must be approved by the Senate, the upper chamber of Congress, before he can take over as the new secretary of defence. The chair of the Senate Armed Services Committee, Senator John Warner, has said hearings for Gates were due to be held on December 5.