The Hill’s Alexander Bolton reported on Tuesday that Senate Democrats may look at rules changes to break through the blockade U.S. Senator Tommy Tuberville has put in place against more than 200 military promotions to protest the Pentagon’s abortion policy.
Democrats accuse Tuberville of abusing the Senate rules by keeping his hold on Joe Biden’s military promotions in place since February.
“We need to talk about changing rules that Republicans have learned to exploit. We can’t continue in a world where one senator puts our entire national defense at risk because he doesn’t like one policy followed by the Department of Defense,” said Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Massachusetts), a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee.
Warren says that she has repeatedly asked for unanimous consent to advance Biden’s nonpolitical military promotions only to be blocked by Tuberville.
“Sen. Tuberville’s hold is just another indication of the madness that seems to have seized extremists in the Republican Party,” she said.
“I don’t think one person should be able to hold up the promotions and lives of everybody in the military or any other part of government,” said Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-Michigan), the chairwoman of the Senate Democratic Policy and Communications Committee.
“The Senator from Alabama’s actions are not just the usual back and forth in Washington. His holds pose a grave threat to our national security and our military readiness,” Warren said in a floor speech on June 1. “They actively hurt our ability to respond quickly to threats worldwide. That is not my conclusion. That is the conclusion of the Secretary of Defense.”
President Joe Biden brought up Sen. Tuberville’s hold on military promotions without mentioning the Senator by name in comments at an event on Monday.
“Because the military said if you’re in the military and you’re having a troubled pregnancy, and you’re in a state where you’re not allowed to see the doctor performing any remedial operation on you, then you can get paid – you can have leave to go to where you can do that,” Biden said. “I know I don’t look like I’ve been around, but I’ve been around a long time. There’s so many things of consequence that we can solve. And the vast majority of people, all the data shows, support the positions we’re generically taken.”
On Thursday, Tuberville said that he is not backing down.
“This is the ninth time that Democrats have come to the floor to try to break my hold on the Department of Defense’s nominees,” said Tuberville. “This is the ninth time that I’ve come to the floor to keep my word. Since the last time we did this, nothing has changed. And so, my hold will remain in place.”
Tuberville continued, “Yesterday, the White House Press Secretary was asked why they haven’t reached out to me at all. She said, “I do not know when the last time is they talked to the senator.” I’ll tell you when the last time was — never. The White House has not reached out once in four months. No one has contacted me. There has not been one conversation, no path forward. I have spoken to Secretary (Lloyd) Austin, outside of Armed Services hearings, exactly once in the last two years. That was a 10-minute phone call — three months ago. He made absolutely no effort to find a compromise in our situation.”
“Many of the claims made about me have been completely false. Many of them,” said Tuberville. “This is no way to negotiate with a colleague — especially in this body, the United States Senate. Frankly, this kind of behavior from the Democrats just steels my resolve. The more false claims the Democrats make about me, the more inclined I am to keep the holds in place.”
“But I would note that just yesterday, a news story reported correctly that these military positions are being fulfilled by acting officials,” stated Tuberville. “These jobs are being done right now. They’re not empty. Four months into this situation that is obvious that people are doing the job. It is not affecting readiness. Anyone who says otherwise is wrong.”
“I will keep my hold until the Pentagon follows the law [or] Congress changes the law,” vowed Tuberville. “That’s the way we do it here in the Senate. A ‘show vote’ in committee is not good enough. We can do that all we want. It’s not going to make any difference. An amendment that gets stripped out on the floor by Senator [Chuck] Schumer is not good enough. What I have said from the beginning: either follow the law or change it. Follow the law that we have made in this body, or change the law.”
It is far from certain that Democrats have the votes to change the Senate rules, as any proposed rule change on this would dramatically decrease the power of every individual senator – of both parties.
This slowdown of routine Senate business could be getting worse.
Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio) is following Tuberville’s example when he declared last week that he will put a hold on all nominees to the Justice Department over the prosecution of former President Donald Trump.
“Donald Trump is merely the latest victim of a Department of Justice that cares more about politics than law enforcement,” Vance said in a statement. “Merrick Garland’s department harasses Christians for pro-life advocacy but allows hardened criminals to walk our streets unpunished. This must stop, and I will do everything in my ability to ensure it does. Starting today, I will hold all Department of Justice nominations. If Merrick Garland wants to use these officials to harass Joe Biden’s political opponents, we will grind his department to a halt.”
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