OBAMA TO MEET REPUBLICAN SENATORS MCCAIN AND GRAHAM ON TUESDAY TO DISCUSS IMMIGRATION REFORM EFFORT - WHITE HOUSE OFFICIAL

US President Barack Obama will hold talks Tuesday with Senator John McCain, one of four Republicans who have joined Democrats in proposing a plan for comprehensive immigration reform. McCain's office on Monday confirmed the White House talks but did not provide further details, and the White House had yet to announce the meeting. The Washington Post, citing a Senate aide, said the talks would address immigration, an issue the president has flagged as key to his second term which began last month.

WASHINGTON, Feb 24 (Reuters) - Republican Senator John McCain on Sunday said his former colleague Chuck Hagel was not qualified to be U.S. defense secretary but the Senate would likely vote on his nomination rather than hold it up with procedural hurdles. Before going on a weeklong recess, Republican lawmakers succeeded in delaying a Senate vote on Hagel's nomination earlier this month. Hagel is expected to win confirmation if a vote is held because Democrats control 55 votes in the 100-seat Senate.

Fifteen US Senate Republicans on Thursday urged President Barack Obama to withdraw his controversial pick to head the Pentagon, even as others in the party concede the nominee will be confirmed next week. Obama's nominee, Republican former senator Chuck Hagel, has faced intense opposition by current lawmakers and was grilled by the likes of Senator John McCain during a testy hearing in which critics questioned Hagel's positions on Iran, nuclear weapons, Israel and the US troop surge in Iraq.