U.S. Senator Tommy Tuberville has been heavily criticized for holding defense nominees up by refusing to give unanimous consent to senior-level military and Department of Defense civilian promotions over his unhappiness with Defense Department efforts to thwart state laws limiting or banning abortions. Tuberville pushed back in a Senate floor speech on Wednesday.
Tuberville pointed out that a simple vote of the full Senate in regular order would override Tuberville’s hold. It would require Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer to bring the promotions before the Senate in regular order.
“Every single one of these nominees can receive a vote in the Senate if Senator Schumer wants it,” Tuberville said. “It’s not too much to ask of the United States Senate to do its job — to vote.”
Senate Democrats and the White House are saying that national security is being threatened by Tuberville refusing to approve batches of the promotions by unanimous consent as is the standard practice of the Senate.
John Kirby is the National Security Council (NSC) Coordinator for Strategic Communications.
“So, I think you all know he’s blocking Defense Department nominations, including the promotions of over 160 senior military leaders — admirals and generals — and nominees for top acquisition and sustainment positions, civilian positions at DOD right at a time when the budget has gone forward, and you got the top leaders of the Defense Department testifying on this budget — biggest budget ever for DOD — and at a time when we are still trying to support Ukraine while we’re still facing challenges in the Indo-Pacific — a wide range of challenges; it’s not just all about China,” Kirby told reporters in a White House press briefing Wednesday. “I mean, look at what North Korea has done in recent days.”
“And when you hold these promotions up, you — there is, as Secretary Austin said, a real ripple effect downstream because now people can’t move on to the next job, and they can’t leave the one that they’re in, and they can’t assume these new jobs of responsibility,” Kirby continued. “And it absolutely — if it goes on too long, it could absolutely have an effect on U.S. military readiness around the world. We noticed that there were some Senate Republicans yesterday who urged Senator Tuberville to drop these blocks themselves, and we certainly welcome that and agree with them.”
Schumer has repeatedly blasted Tuberville for his refusal to give unanimous consent to the promotions.
“It’s not very often that the majority leader of the Senate attacks a single senator by name three days in a row,” Tuberville said. “Now, in my former profession, I’ve been called everything. It doesn’t really bother me too much. But the majority leader has also tweeted about me. That’s good. So, let’s get the record straight as we speak. Right now, I want to talk about what I have done and what I am doing.”
“First of all, I’m not blocking anyone from being confirmed. Every single one of these nominees can receive a vote if Senator Schumer wants it,” Tuberville said. “In fact, one of the civilian nominees is getting a vote this week. If Democrats are so worried about these nominations, let’s vote. If we’re not going to vote on taxpayer-funded abortion, then let’s vote on these nominees. Voting is our job. It’s not too much to ask of the United States Senate to do its job — to vote.”
“Senator Schumer and some of the other senators have claimed that my hold on these nominees is unprecedented,” Tuberville continued. “Well, it’s not. My hold is far from unprecedented. In fact, Senator [Michael] Bennet himself threatened to do the exact same thing just a few months ago. Why? Because the Air Force’s planned to move Space Command from Colorado to Huntsville, Alabama…Two years ago, we had a senator from Illinois put a hold on 1,000 nominees over the promotion of one single officer. So far, my hold has affected 184 nominations.”
“I am not going to be intimidated by a campaign of selective outrage,” Tuberville said.
Tuberville is following through on his pledge to hold the confirmation of DoD nominees if the Pentagon moved forward with its new pro-abortion policy of funding travel and paid time off for service members and their dependents seeking an elective abortion.
“We’re talking about taxpayers’ funding for travel and extra paid time to get elective abortions,” Tuberville said. “This policy includes spouses and dependents. We’re talking about taxpayer funding for somebody’s kids to go get an abortion in another state. This has never been in the policy until now.”
The Alabama Republican Party announced on Facebook that they are joining a Family Research Council petition drive supporting Tuberville’s stance.
“Join us as we stand with Senator Tommy Tuberville in his fight against the Department of Defense’s new abortion policy. Help Coach defend the unborn, preserve congressional authority, and prevent our military from becoming an abortion business. Add your name to the Family Research Council’s petition.”
Tommy Tuberville has represented Alabama in the U.S. Senate since his election in 2020.
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