Tommy Tuberville to seek floor vote on No. 2 Marine leader after commandant hospitalized
Ashley Murray, Alabama Reflector WASHINGTON — Sen. Tommy Tuberville, who for months has been blocking hundreds of military promotions in protest of a Pentagon abortion policy, plans to call a floor vote on the nominee for second-in-command of the U.S. Marines Corps after its top leader Gen. Eric M. Smith suffered a health emergency Sunday. Tuberville, an Alabama Republican, gathered the required petition signatures to bring an individual vote to the floor on Lt. Gen. Christopher Mahoney, nominee for the Corps’ assistant commandant. President Joe Biden nominated Mahoney in July. “The vote could be as soon as Thursday,” said Steven Stafford, spokesperson for Tuberville’s office. Stafford said Tuberville collected the 16 signatures he needed in roughly 30 minutes during the Senate’s weekly lunch on Tuesday. Stafford would not disclose names but said all signees are Republicans. Tuberville’s list of blocked nominees grew to 378 as of Friday but could balloon to 650 by year’s end, according to the Pentagon. Sens. Jack Reed, chair of the Senate Committee on Armed Services, and Kyrsten Sinema are mulling a proposal to bypass Tuberville’s holds and allow promotions to reach the floor en bloc rather than individually. Text of the proposal is not yet available, according to a spokesperson for Sinema, an independent who represents Arizona. Smith remains hospitalized, but further details about his condition and what happened Sunday were not released. “Due to the expressed wishes of his family, we are respecting their privacy at this difficult time. The Marine Corps will provide more information once it becomes available,” a Pentagon spokesperson said Tuesday. Reed issued a statement on Smith just after 4:30 p.m. Eastern Monday. “I am wishing General Smith a speedy recovery. He is one of our nation’s finest and toughest leaders, and I hope he will return to full strength soon. My thoughts are with General Smith and his family,” the Rhode Island Democrat said. Tuberville also sits on the Armed Services Committee. Smith was confirmed in September after Tuberville pursued a similar effort to force individual votes for top military nominees. Majority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York set up the votes to confirm Gen. Charles Q. Brown as the chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Randy George to Army chief of staff, and Smith. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin has warned the delayed promotions are a threat to national security. Defense abortion policy In the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2022 decision to strike down the federal right to abortion, the Pentagon announced that service members could receive leave and travel allowances when seeking abortions in areas of the country where it remains legal. The court’s decision triggered a patchwork of state-by-state abortion laws. About 80,000 active-duty female troops are based in states where legislatures enacted full or partial bans, according to a September 2022 analysis by the RAND Corporation, a think tank that has long produced defense research. Tuberville maintains the department’s policy is illegal. The Pentagon and Biden administration refute that claim. Alabama Reflector is part of States Newsroom, a network of news bureaus supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Alabama Reflector maintains editorial independence. Follow Alabama Reflector on Facebook and Twitter.
Air Force embraces DEI as recruitment falters
The U.S. Air Force has become increasingly focused on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion efforts, and critics say it is hurting recruitment. Chief of Staff of the Air Force Charles Q. Brown has been a major backer of the DEI efforts. Brown said in the fall of 2020 that DEI was a key focal point of recruiting and a factor in promotions. The Air Force launched a Diversity and Inclusion Task Force in September 2020. The Air Force is not alone in that transition, though, as the Pentagon and other branches take similar steps to varying degrees. “Shortly after assuming office, President Joe Biden signed three separate executive orders directing all federal agencies to commit extensive time and resources towards Diversity, Equity and Inclusion efforts,” Thomas Spoehr, a Heritage expert and retired lieutenant general who served more than 36 years in the U.S. Army, told The Center Square. Brown helped open the Air Force’s DEI office. Now, the Air Force website includes a litany of materials on the issue cautioning against racism and “unconscious bias.” An Independent Racial Disparity Review published in December 2020 on the same site includes a “Magnitude of the Problem” section in which the taxpayer-funded office reported that “black Airmen are more likely to face formal disciplinary action than their white peers.” “Specifically, black service members were 74% more likely to receive Article 15s and 60% more likely to face courts-martial than white service members,” the report said. “The primary offenses where the difference could be seen were: willful dereliction, failure to go to/leaving from appointed place of duty, making a false official statement, and drug-related offenses. Data alone cannot provide insight on the cause of the racial disparity in Air Force discipline, and further analysis is required.” The site also includes guidance on “Promoting and protecting the human rights of LGBTQI+ persons around the world” and an “In-Service Transition Guide for Transgender Service Members.” Those materials include guidance on pronouns, gender identity and the Department of Defense’s new focus on ending “homophobia” and “transphobia” around the world. The Air Force has implemented racial quota goals for officers that roughly line up with the representation those groups have in the general U.S. population. “It is imperative that the composition of our military services better reflect our nation’s highly talented, diverse, and eligible population,” Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall said in a memo with other top officials last year. “This goal continues our progress toward achieving a force more representative of our nation, while leveraging that diversity to enhance the Air and Space Force’s ability to deter, and if necessary, deny our nation’s competitors.” Meanwhile, the Air Force faces major recruiting issues. Kendall said in a speech in March of this year that Active-duty Air Force is expected to fall short of its 2023 recruiting goal by 10%. “We are swimming upstream against a reduced propensity to serve nationally across the board and a limited percentage of qualified candidates,” he said. Spoehr argues that this shift in emphasis to DEI is hurting recruitment. “Now in 2023 we are seeing some of the results of that push with American citizens and veterans reacting negatively to these political efforts,” Spoehr said. “Military recruitment is having its worst year ever and national polls reflect a loss of confidence by Americans in the military.” As The Center Square previously reported, these instances are just a few of many across the U.S. military. A recent DOD Comptroller report includes $86.5 million for “dedicated diversity and inclusion activities.” “The Department will lead with our values – building diversity, equity, and inclusion into everything we do,” the report said. Congressional Republicans released a report last year detailing many of these examples, including one case where a slide show presentation for the Air Force Academy called “Diversity & Inclusion: What it is, why we care, & what we can do.” That training cautions cadets against using gendered language, such as words like “mom” and “dad.” “These efforts have had a particularly deleterious impact on the Department of Defense which for decades has prided itself on its tradition of meritocracy where individuals can achieve their highest potential based on their aptitude and hard work, versus their race, sex, and ethnicity,” Spoehr said. Republished with the permission of The Center Square.
