“I’m confident that Sen. Hagel will probably have the votes necessary to be confirmed as secretary of defense,” Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., said Sunday on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”

After Senate Republicans voted to sustain a filibuster and block the former Nebraska senator’s nomination from advancing toward confirmation, McCain acknowledged that Hagel will likely win confirmation once the chamber returns from its recess.

“I think it’s a reasonable amount of time to have questions answered,” McCain said of the week-and-a-half-long window which Senate Republicans demanded to pore more thoroughly over their former colleague’s records.